March 6, 2010
HOWELL, N.J. — -Freshman Kim Carper came off the bench midway through the fourth game and sparked Vanderbilt into second place after the first day of the ECAC Championships.
The Commodores trail Fairleigh Dickinson in pin count by 54 but appear poised to make the top four cut that is needed to play for the tournament title tomorrow. Both VU and FDU went 4-1 on the day. Three team games remain before a best four-of-seven Baker play begins to decide things.
“We started slow and Morgan State shot the second-best score of the day against us but after that I thought we settled down on what was a pretty tough shot,” Coach John Williamson said. “The lane conditions made it difficult to strike and you paid dearly for mistakes so filling frames became the object. Those last two games were nice wins even if the scores by themselves wouldn’t necessarily indicate it.”
Williamson inserted Carper into the lineup in the fifth frame against New Jersey City and the Minnesota product came through with flying colors. He left her in for the finale against a fired-up FDU squad and she responded with a quality 211.
“All week I had worked with Brittni Hamilton on my mindset,” Carper said afterwards. “Brittni told me to be `Junior Gold Kim’ and that meant bowl with confidence. The conditions played well to my game – I had a line and just had to throw it with confidence. The team needed a spark and I was glad I could respond.”
Despite the blue-collar scores, Commodore star Josie Earnest is in second place individually after averaging a hard-earned 196.20, just seven pins behind Angela Reynolds of Delaware State. Kayla Rhoades is in 10th and Brittni Hamilton, seemingly having one of her toughest days of the season, still found a way into 12th place.
The Commodores were cheered on in the big gallery by Karen Grygiel and Michelle Peloquin, two former All-Americans who now live in the area. Peloquin is attending pharmacy school in Massachusetts while Grygiel is working in her home state.
The afternoon got off to a slow start. Seventeen open frames will do that to a team. While the Commodores labored deep into the game searching for the right lane pattern, the underdog Mustangs had little trouble and jumped out to an early lead that even late flurry of Black and Gold strikes couldn’t erase. Josie Earnest’s 193 was a close as any Commodore could get to the 200 plateau.
Fortunes took a turn for the better in the second game, primarily because the `Dores cut their opens from that scary 17 to a still-too-many eight. In the process, Kayla Rhoades and Brittany Garcia went over 200.
Game three was even better. Josie Earnest got things churned up by beginning with six in a row before her ball in the seventh just missed the sweet spot and left a nasty split that she was unable to convert. The All-American then churned out four more strikes for a nice 245. Right behind her came Brittni Hamilton, who finally turned the corner on a day of struggle and notched a 224. Rhoades stayed steady at 209.
What appeared to be one of the feature games of the day came next with perennial power New Jersey City on tap. The Gothic Knights jumped out to a lead and held it to midway in the match. A combination of improved Commodore performance and a meltdown in spare shooting by NJC gave the `Dores a 58-pin win – despite leaving 14 open frames of their own! Freshman Kim Carper got her first action of the day in relief of Jessica Earnest in the fifth frame and came through with three spares and three strikes.
The afternoon finished on a winning note with easily the team’s most competitive match against the host Knights of FDU. It was a game of momentum swings and a couple of lead changes before Vanderbilt poked its nose in front midway through and nursed leads of various sizes the rest of the way. In the process, both teams did an adequate job of filling frames and trading short runs.
Competition starts Sunday at 9:00 a.m.
Team Leader Board (11 teams competing)
1. FDU 4,667
2. Vanderbilt 4,613
3. Saint Francis 4,464
4. Delaware State 4,455
Vanderbilt Game-by-Game
Morgan State 999, VU 855
Jessica Earnest 148
Brittany Garcia 172
Kayla Rhoades 162
Brittni Hamilton 180
Josie Earnest 193
VU 944, St Peters 882
Jess Earnest 165
Garcia 209
Rhoades 216
Hamilton 166
Josie Earnest 188
VU 1,045, Long Island 753
Jess Earnest 171
Garcia 196
Rhoades 209
Hamilton 224
Josie Earnest 245
VU 841, New Jersey City 763
Jess Earnest – Kim Carper 190
Garcia 141
Rhoades 158
Hamilton 190
Josie Earnest 162
VU 928, Fairleigh Dickinson 902
Jess Earnest 175
Carper 211
Rhoades 190
Hamilton 159
Josie Earnest 193