ARLINGTON, Texas – Vanderbilt bowling is in fourth place on the Prairie View A&M Invitational leaderboard after facing a gauntlet Friday, which included matchups against three of the NCAA’s top 5 teams. All the Commodores’ Day 1 matches came against squad’s ranked in the top 10.
“With 12 top 10 teams in the country this event has a Conference USA tournament feel,” head coach John Williamson said. “Every match is close; mistakes are emphasized because the team that wins is the one that makes the least amount. We were up in each match today, but if you looked at the frames, there were a couple key ones in Rounds 1, 4 and 5 that helped them get away from us. We have a great opportunity tomorrow to play five more good teams, build on some of the positive things we did today and rebound from a win-loss perspective while giving us a chance to play Sunday for a championship”
The Commodores, using a lineup of freshman Sydney Bohn, sophomore Haley Lindley, senior Kailee Channell, graduate student Isabel Allen and junior Victoria Varano, started their day with a back-and-forth Baker match with top 5 opponent Arkansas State. Vanderbilt got off to a 27-pin lead after two games but faced a setback in a low-scoring third game. Despite 201 and 202 games to end the set, the Red Wolves held onto their lead with games of 207 and 225. The final score was 1,032-991.
After dropping the opening game with No. 4 Youngstown State, 204-193, the Commodores found their rhythm and ran off scores of 257, 226, 223 and 221 to win the match by a score of 1,120-1,039.
Vandy cruised to a 1,139-932 win over ninth-ranked Maryville in Round 3. The Dores posted scores of 191, 224, 258, 218 and 248 to yield their highest-scoring match of the day.
The Commodores dropped Games 4 and 5 to No. 2 Jacksonville State and No. 10 North Carolina A&T. Vanderbilt got off to a 69-pin advantage after two games with the Gamecocks but were unable to close out the match as Jacksonville State recorded scores of 235, 206 and 248 to secure the 1,046-976 win. Vandy’s match with the Aggies was its closest of the day. The two squads traded wins but a 235 by North Carolina A&T in Game 5 sealed the win for the Aggies.
Jax State is the top-seeded team heading into Day 2 followed by Sam Houston State, Arkansas State and Vanderbilt.
The Commodores will begin Saturday with their first of five traditional matches at 9:25 a.m. Action is streamed by BowlTV, and fans can follow Vanderbilt bowling on X and Instagram at @VandyBowling for updates.
