SAN ANTONIO — Second-ranked Vanderbilt bowling went 5-0 on the first day of the Bulldog Classic hosted by Louisiana Tech at Bowlero Thousand Oaks Friday.
The Commodores picked up a pair of wins over ranked opponents on the way to posting a 5,095 total after five Baker matches to take the overall pin total lead. Vandy recorded 1,000 or more pins in each of their last four matches, highlighted by rolling the highest total in the 16-team field in two of the final three rounds.
With a starting lineup of Natalie Kent, Dannielle Henderson, Lindsay Greim, Saphyre Nofuente and Katelyn Abigania, the Dores began the morning by edging No. 17 Tulane, 885-880. Vandy followed up with a 134-pin victory over seventh-ranked Louisiana Tech, 1,009-875, and then topped Texas Southern, 1,090-807, in the third round. The Commodores defeated Prairie View A&M, 1,012-898, in the fourth round before closing the day with a 1,099 to defeat Alabama A&M, their highest five-game Baker set of the day.
While there were numerous lineup changes throughout the day, none might have been bigger than when Avery Domaguin was brought in early as she would go on to finish with the team’s highest frame average of the day.
“We got off to an extremely slow start. I think it was a combination of the lanes playing a little differently than we anticipated, which then caused our shot execution to get away from us, and then the snowball effect just started to happen,” said first-year head coach Josie Barnes. “We regrouped at the end and discussed how we were going to pivot and how we weren’t going to let the start of the day dictate how we let the rest of the day play out. I thought overall after that point they did a pretty good job of staying on task.
“I thought today was a really great day for Avery. She’s someone we really leaned on a lot at the end of last year and I would guess if you asked her she would say her first two events haven’t gone exactly how she would have liked, but she hasn’t let that kill her drive or spirit. She threw a lot of big shots today when we needed them.”
The tournament will continue Saturday with five traditional matches in pool play scheduled.
The Dores’ matches will be streamed live on YouTube and Facebook. Fans can follow Vanderbilt bowling on X and Instagram at @VandyBowling for updates.