March 18, 2016
SMYRNA, TN—Vanderbilt eased through the first day of the Columbia 300 Music City Classic unbeaten in six games but sitting in sixth place based upon total pin fall over the long day of competition. The tournament continues Saturday and Sunday at the Smyrna Bowling Center, admission is free.
Tournament officials requested and received a demanding oil pattern that kept scores relatively modest for everyone the entire day. Long Island University managed to average 196.6 to lead the 30-team field with Nebraska second and McKendree third.
Vandy’s marquee game of the day came in the afternoon opener against No. 2 rated Arkansas State. The Commodores jumped out to a quick and comfortable lead, withstood a Red Wolves rally in the fourth of five games but came back in the finale to win going away. The other VU victories came against unranked foes.
Vanderbilt battled the challenging lanes with a rotation of Giselle Poss, Amanda Fry, Tori Ferris, Kristin Quah and Robyn Renslow much of the time. Olivia Wirtz and Jordan Newham saw action in the morning session and the order was tinkered with from time to time.
“We wanted to put out a shot that required people to execute and at the end of the day the best shot makers would probably be out front,” Coach John Williamson said. “For the better part of the day I thought we did all right.”
Poss, the junior lead-off bowler, seemed to agree. `This is the hardest NCAA pattern and for the most part we executed and made shots but there were some instances the shot-making wasn’t there,” she admitted. “We might have gotten a bit lazy in the last game, went on autopilot and in this game you can’t run on autopilot.”
Poss was referring to the game with Elmhurst, where VU was coming off its best game of the day and got into a 36-pin hole after three of the five Bakers. Vandy cut the margin to four heading into the last game and quickly grabbed a 20-pin lead to keep their record clean.
Twenty-two of the nation’s top 25 rated teams and nearly all the top individuals are in action in what is the largest field of the year in NCAA bowling. Competition resumes at 9:30 a.m. Saturday with six team games.
