Jan. 28, 2012
READING, Pa. – Vanderbilt’s bowling team reversed its opening day record but its attempt to reach the championship bracket at the Kutztown Invitational fell just short Saturday.
The Commodores began the day in sixth place, lost their first game and then rattled off five straight victories but finished fifth in crucial tally of pin count and as a result did not make Sunday’s four-team title bracket.
“Overall we were not consistent,” Coach John Williamson assessed. “We certainly had our chances to make the championship bracket but we would bowl 1,080 one game and 880 the next. We didn’t perform well enough to deserve the top bracket and I hope we got the message that to earn a chance to win a tournament you have to be consistently good.”
The marathon day of bowling began where Friday’s train wreck left off, losing to New Jersey City with a modest 906 score. It was then that fortunes changed as Vanderbilt put Courtney Morgan into the second slot of the traditional team game lineup and her 232 was a catalyst to a team 1,084 and win over Monmouth. From then on, the Commodores were erratic with pin count but always able to push aside the opponent of the moment. Their 5-1 mark today evened their Kutztown mark at 6-6.
The lineup after the first game was Brittni Hamilton, Morgan, Kim Carper, Jessica Earnest and Samantha Hesley.
“I thought Kim and Courtney gave us a lift today,” Williamson said. “Kim was steady and Courtney did a decent job filling frames. She lacks experience and I think that makes her prone to be nervous at times but she made some quality shots.”
The closest shave of the day was a scant four-pin win over St. Francis (Pa.) and it took some heroics by Hesley in the 10th, converting the 4-5 split.
“That’s a tough spare to convert and a tough time to make it,” Williamson noted. In the day’s finale against host Kutztown, Hesley struck out in her 10th to clinch the win.
Vanderbilt is paired Sunday with Delaware State, Wisconsin-Whitewater and Stephen F. Austin. The highest possible finish now for the Commodores is third place. Fairleigh Dickinson compiled an 11-1 dual mark and won the pin count to gain the top seed. Complete tournament results are be found at this link.
New Jersey City 965 VU 906
Hamilton 180
Goodman, Reguero, Morgan 145
Carper 189
Earnest 162
Hesley 230
VU 1,084 Monmouth 927
Hamilton 200
Morgan 232
Carper 203
Earnest 234
Hesley 234
VU 889 Cheney State 731
Hamilton 188
Morgan 145
Carper 180
Earnest 191
Hesley 184
VU 1,001 St. Francis (Pa.) 997
Hamilton 235
Morgan 184
Carper 203
Earnest 210
Hesley 169
VU 900 St. Francis (NY) 868
Hamilton 171
Morgan 184
Carper 180
Earnest 173
Hesley 192
VU 950 Kutztown 924
Hamilton 194
Morgan 137
Carper 199
Earnest 207
Hesley 213
