Vanderbilt dominated the second day of play at the Hawk Classic and easily earned the No. 1 bracket seed heading into Sunday’s final action.
The Commodores were never threatened in winning all four of their matches, three of those wins coming against top 12 ranked opposition. They finished 263 pins ahead of second place Sacred Heart, meaning the two will meet in the bracket opener with the winner being ushered into the championship match.
Vandy never subbed in using a rotation of Bryanna Leyen, Samantha Gainor, Jordon Newham, Kristin Quah and Maria Bulanova. As could be expected with such a sizeable team lead, Commodore individuals fared well in the standings.
Quah made her third straight top five by averaging 215.20, good for fifth place behind Sacred Heart’s Julia Favata’s 224.0. Gainor was ninth, a mere two pins out of sixth place with a 211.40 average and Leyen was nipping on her heels in 12th place at 208.50. All three ‘Dores would have been even higher if not for an uncustomary sub-900 team score in the day’s second game.
“I thought it played a little bit harder today than yesterday,” said Coach John Williamson. “Overall we handled ourselves pretty good – it was the first time this fall we’ve been in this position (leading late) and we responded well.”
For the record, the Commodores beat Sacred Heart in the day’s opening match, a well-played 1,056-1,002 game aided by Gainor’s torrid nine straight strikes and Leyen’s five-bagger. Vandy got by Mount St. Mary’s, 869-796, in the day’s outlier before coming back to down 10th ranked Tulane, 1,113-979, and No. 9 Fairleigh Dickinson, 983-871. The ‘Dores also played a “bye” round, notching 1,024 pins.
Williamson thought that 869 clunker “was a combination of the lanes and us not performing well.” Afterward he told the team “we are going to pretend that game didn’t happen and when we started scoring well against Tulane I just thought that was the lineup we needed to stick with.”
It was a day with little or no drama for Commodore fans. Excitement was generated virtually every game but one with long strings of strikes. Gainor’s nine in a row was the best but the Michigan sophomore also had eight straight against Tulane. Leyen had multiple extended runs as did Newham, who enjoyed a four-bagger in the FDU game.
Quah’s finish might be most impressive by realizing she never appeared to be totally in the zone as she often can. In fact, the senior honors student struggled with three splits and subsequent opens in the FDU match before finishing with four in a row to salvage a 204. It is believed she is the first Commodore in program history to notch three top five finishes in succession.
Close observers may have noted that All-American anchor Maria Bulanova was not among the Commodores enjoying big days. Williamson attributed much of that to the lane conditions and Bulanova’s higher ball speed.
“It was pretty scoreable, especially for some with slightly slower ball speeds,” he noted.
Sunday’s play starts at 7:30 a.m. CST. Fairleigh Dickinson and host Maryland-Eastern Shore square off in the other side of the title bracket. Vanderbilt action is being shown on its YouTube channel.
