VU is third at Mid-Winter

Jan. 14, 2018

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Vanderbilt defeated third-ranked and host Arkansas State in the consolation finals to capture third place at the Mid-Winter Classic Sunday afternoon. The victory came after the Commodores had lost back-to-back games against the nation’s No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams – Nebraska and McKendree.

Coach John Williamson recognized some bright spots in his team’s performance but also sees the necessity of pushing the Commodores to improve.

“We have a lot of work to do from a won-loss standpoint to make our spring better. To get where we want to get we have got a lot to clean up. To get the second seed at two straight tournaments (Hawk Classic last fall) is a plus given the quality of opposition but this week we simply were not clean enough to win against the best. Our Achilles Heel on Friday was our Achilles Heel again today; we weren’t able to mask it as well as we did Saturday.”

Using a rotation of Bryanna Leyen, Jordan Newham, Adel Wahner, Kristin Quah and Maria Bulanova, the Commodores split the first two games with the Red Wolves before starting the third in the best-of-seven Bakers with the front seven and coasted to to a 247-194 win. They followed that with another win to seize a commanding 3-1 lead.

The sixth game was back and forth and as many games between highly ranked teams, it came down to the All-American anchors. ASU’s NCAA Player of the Year Jordan Richard left the door cracked when after a strike she failed to convert a minor split and had 9-count. Bulanova, known to relish such situations, spared and then struck to salvage a 196-196 draw. Vanderbilt won the seventh and deciding game by just two pins, 226-224, in a high-quality game.

In the morning’s opening match with the top-ranked Huskers, who were unbeaten the first two days, Vanderbilt got into a 3-0 hole before battling back to make it 3-2. Nebraska won the sixth game, 211-201, to advance to the championship game.

The Commodores, 41-23, were also down 3-0 to No. 2 rated McKendree with too many unforced mistakes to challenge the Bearkats, who had scores of 258 and 241 in their early arsenal. Vandy was able to win the fourth game, 198-180, but dropped Game 5 to fall into the consolation game. McKendree would go on to sweep Nebraska in four games to win the tournament.

Adel Wahner was named to the all-tournament team, her first as a Commodore. The sophomore was fifth in Saturday’s individual play with a star-studded field that featured six of the nation’s top seven rated teams.

Vanderbilt has a short week on campus before traveling to Reading, Pa., next weekend for the Kutztown Invitational.