Nov. 20, 2015
MILLSBORO, DE—With one possible exception, the Millsboro Lanes won the first day of Maryland-Eastern Shore’s Hawk Classic. Scores were low and Vanderbilt’s third-ranked Commodores ground it out in the 5-game Bakers, finishing the long day in third-place with a 5-1 mark.
Only first-place Sam Houston State could figure out how to average more than 200 pins per game, going unbeaten at a 208 clip. Vanderbilt, averaging 189.6, was also behind Monmouth, coached by former Commodore Karen Grygiel but ahead of other Top 10 teams with a long way to go to Sunday’s finish.
The Commodores began the day ice-cold and lost to Adelphi before notching wins against Kutztown, St. Francis (PA), Central Missouri, St. Francis-Brooklyn and avenging the opening loss by downing Adelphi in the day’s finale. Not once did Vandy top 1,000 pins and actually defeated the traditionally strong Central Missouri Jennies by a meager 905-884 margin.
“It was not a good day,” Coach John Williamson said, “but everyone seemed to struggle. We will hope to regroup tonight and come back better tomorrow.”
The Commodores tried various lineup combinations throughout the day, which was compounded by a couple of lane issues that created delays in competition.
Vanderbilt opens the first of six traditional games Saturday at 7:25 CT against New Jersey City. The tournament concludes Sunday.
