NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt returns to Dallas for Louisiana Tech’s Lady Techsters Classic running Friday through Sunday at the well-known USA Bowl.
Two weeks ago the Commodores (58-20) won the Prairie View Invitational in nearby Arlington at the International Training and Research Center. This weekend’s Lady Techsters Classic will be the smallest field of the season on Vanderbilt’s schedule.
The weekend’s action will be streamed live on bowltv.com.
Schedule
11:35 a.m. Friday: 5-Game baker matches
11:25 a.m. Saturday: Traditional team games
8:55 a.m. Sunday: Round-robin play completion and one best-of-seven baker match
Competing teams
Adephi, Grambling, Louisiana Tech, St. Anselm College, Sam Houston State, Southern University, Tulane and Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt Moves to Second in Poll
Vanderbilt’s impressive January moved the Commodores into second place in the latest polling of the nation’s head coaches.
Vanderbilt sliced No. 1 McKendree’s poll lead in half after a pair of second-place tournament finishes at the Vegas Stormin’ Blue and White Classic and the huge Northeast Classic, followed by a title at the Prairie View Invitational that had nine of the nation’s top 10 teams competing.
Vandy garnered eight of the 38 first-place votes cast with 1,380 total poll points while McKendree, the defending national champion, received the other 30 and 1,456 points.
Nebraska was third, Arkansas State fourth and Stephen F. Austin fifth in voting.
Ballard Wins SBL Rookie Honors Again
Commodore freshman Alyssa Ballard heads back to her hometown of Dallas fresh on the heels of being named the Southland Bowling League’s January Newcomer of the Month.
It’s the second time in three months that Ballard has won the league award. She averaged 204.3 for the month, which ranked seventh in the highly competitive SBL and also placed seventh at the Prairie View.
Commodore Individuals Ranked 1-2-3 in January
Vandy bowlers ranked first, second and third in Southland Bowling League scoring for the month of January.
Over 401 frames and three tournaments, senior Mabel Cummins averaged a whopping 220.02 to lead the SBL while junior Caroline Thesier was followed at 212.9 and sophomore Paige Peters checked in at 209.4.
Cummins has given Vanderbilt some of the program’s best anchor play ever since moving back in early January.
Cummins Also Leading NCAA in Multiple Categories
Cummins’ dominance is not limited to SBL statistics.
According to official statistics posted on ntcabowling.com, Cummins was leading the nation in a multitude of categories including the Player Composite Performance Index (PCPI) that, since its creation, has been a major consideration in All-America and Player of the Year voting. The stats were as of Jan. 31.
Cummins has a PCPI of 99.065 – a computerized calculation of a variety of key statistics. McKendree’s Hope Gramly was second (98.5), Thesier eighth, Peters 11th and Ballard 15th.
Cummins was also first nationally in filled frame percentage (91.8), single pin spare percentage (96.7), anchor 10th frame scoring (22.9), anchor 10th frame double percentage (41.9) and also in five of the six spare conversion categories.
These stats and many more are available at www.ntcabowling.com/20222023-season-statistics.
Congratulations for Goodman Tackett
Former Vanderbilt standout Natalie (Goodman) Tackett’s husband EJ Tackett recently won the United States Open.
Goodman was a mainstay for the Commodores from 2012-2015. She and Tackett visited the campus and took a tour of Vanderbilt’s bowling center in 2022, which has a large photograph of the Women’s US Open champion from 2021 – Josie Barnes.
