Oct. 19, 2012
Familiar Curtain-Raiser: As in recent years, Vanderbilt travels two hours down I-65 to Huntsville for Alabama A&M’s Bulldog Challenge – a quadrangular that also includes Alabama State and Alabama-Birmingham. The meet will be held Saturday in the Wellness Center on the Alabama A&M campus.
Meet Format: Bowling begins at 10:35 a.m. (CT) with three traditional games in round-robin fashion. The Commodores will square off with the host Bulldogs in the first match. A bracket will be formed based on won-loss records with the 1-4 and 2-3 teams paired up with four-game Baker sets in the semifinals, which should begin about 1 p.m.The title game will be around 2 p.m. if things run on schedule.
Vandy Lineup: Coach John Williamson expects to dress 10 of his 14 women for the competition although all will make the trip. Those 10 are seniors Kim Carper, Courtney Morgan and Jessica Earnest, junior Lauren Rhein, sophomores Natalie Goodman and Nicole Mosesso and freshmen Robyn Renslow, Tori Ferris, Olivia Wirtz and Amanda Fry. Williamson says it is much too soon to have a lineup in place but that he expects all will see action and hopes to get his newcomers into the fray at a point where they can be successful.
O’Brien Mending: Senior Sarah O’Brien is recovering from a minor injury sustained during conditioning workouts and will not compete in Huntsville. It is thought she will be back in action soon.
Coach Speak: “We are looking at this event as a dress rehearsal for two weeks,” (traveling to New Jersey for the FDU Invitational) Williamson says. “These games count in official records but we are not placing a lot of emphasis on them per se.”
Practice Takeaways: “It is still too early to draw many conclusions,” Williamson says, “but one thing Josie and I have noticed is that the competition in our practices has been really good. We’ve had some mock Bakers, doubles and trios, and we appear to have more depth than usual. This is the first time in quite a while that we have more freshmen and sophomores than juniors and seniors, and right now the younger ones are doing a good job of pushing people.Hopefully that will continue.”