SMYRNA, Tenn. —No. 2 Vanderbilt bowling amassed 5,254 pins on Friday and currently ranks third among the 34 competing teams at the Music City Classic.
“I thought today was a good day,” head coach John Williamson said. “I thought we competed and showed resiliency. There was some adversity, and there were times when we were able to turn 160 or 170 games into 200 games to keep our pin count high. As a group, I feel like we’ve been steadily getting better week after week, and I think we’re peaking at the right time. I thought Dannielle was absolutely fantastic today. She threw a lot of strikes that enabled us to have a high standing. Overall, I think we just need to do the same thing tomorrow, and we’ll be alright.
The Commodores earned a 1,033-928 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore to start the day. Vandy took some time to warm up before firing off scores of 211, 231 and 200 to win the match it never trailed.
Vanderbilt dropped a tough 1,140-1,054 decision to top-ranked Jacksonville State in a match that came down to the final game. The Dores built an early lead, winning game 1, 237-182. Despite dropping the following three games to the Gamecocks, Vanderbilt’s scores of 216, 191 and 219 gave the Dores a three-pin lead heading into game 5. Jax State shot a huge 280 in the last game to clinch the match.
In Round 3, No. 4 Wichita State barely edged out the Commodores to take a 206-205 win in game 1. Vandy notched a 219-168 win in the following game to take the lead in the match. The Shockers responded with back-to-back wins in games 3 and 4, cutting the Dores’ advantage to just nine pins. Vanderbilt rallied to shoot 248 in the final game and win the match by a score of 1,057-1,006.
The Commodores kept their momentum rolling into round 4, where they tallied scores of 253, 227, 236, 223 and 199 to beat Quincy, 1,138-863.
Vandy closed out Friday’s competition with a 972-879 win over Alabama A&M.
The Music City Classic continues Saturday with the first of five traditional games beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Fans can watch the Dores’ matches live on YouTube and Facebook and follow Vanderbilt bowling on X and Instagram at @VandyBowling for updates.
