Jan. 28, 2017
ARLINGTON, TX—Vanderbilt defeated three Top 10 opponents Saturday in the power-packed Prairie View Invitational and holds fourth place heading into the final day of competition. With one more seeding game remaining Sunday before bracket play, Arkansas State, Nebraska, McKendree and the Commodores sit in the top spots.
With the tournament played in the International Training and Research Center – bowling’s Mother Ship – invitations to participate are coveted and the top teams show up in force. The field is as close to the NCAA Championship in size and quality as any all season. While fourth place may not raise many eyebrows, the Commodores have notched a number of significant head-to-head wins here including victories over No. 10 Maryland-Eastern Shore, No. 1 Arkansas State and No. 4 McKendree today and No. 2 ranked Sam Houston yesterday.
Vanderbilt lost the day’s opening match to 15th ranked and host Prairie View and to Nebraska in the finale. In the Prairie View contest Vandy struggled and bowled poorly; in the Husker match, it was a different tune as both teams showed why they are among the nation’s best.
“We had a slow start and lost perhaps 150 pins,” said Coach John Williamson, “but then I thought we bowled pretty decent the next three games. We fundamentally broke down a bit in the Nebraska game — such as getting a 7 count off a double — and we were outperformed in the tenth frame when it was even going in.”
Saturday used the standard team game format and once again senior Giselle Poss was exceptional. Just a week ago the Montgomery, Ill., product was the MVP at the Kutztown Invitational and she was in top form again.
Poss, a member of the Puerto Rican national team, started slowly with 179-178 games before pushing it into high gear with 237, 258 and 226 to average 215 over the tough lanes to place second individually. Arkansas State’s Jordan Richards averaged 220 to finish first.
“G is a dynamic player and a dymanic person,” Williamson said. “She’s our catalyst and we feed off her. We go as she goes. When she started with a 178 our team was also sluggish.”
The rest of the Commodore lineup had its moments and with the exception of the first match were steady. The day’s rotation was Jordan Newham, Poss, Adel Wahner, Kristin Quah and Maria Bulanova. Emily Rigney bowled one game.
Sunday’s play gets underway at 8:25 with the remaining team game; for Vanderbilt that will be against Jackson State to complete the round-robin. Bracket play will follow.
