ARLINGTON, Texas — Vanderbilt continues struggling to recapture its winning edge as the Commodores finished Friday’s qualifying in fifth place at the power-packed Prairie View Invitational.
The Commodores won two of their five Baker sets and finished behind Jacksonville State, Arkansas State, Youngstown State and Louisiana Tech in a closely bunched field of a dozen top bowling programs.
Vanderbilt lost 5-game Baker sets to Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston State and Youngstown State while defeating Stephen F. Austin and Southern. Vandy primarily used a rotation of Haley Lindley, Amanda Naujokas, Victoria Varano, Caroline Thesier and Paige Peters, although Alyssa Ballard was in for Naujokas in the opening match.
“If I’m being honest, I was disappointed today,” head coach John Williamson said. “We were pretty average; we were lacking a competitive spark. If you have a desire to attain your post-season dreams, at some point you have to relish competing head-to-head.”
The Commodores started the day slowly, losing to Louisiana Tech. They heated up, however, against Stephen F. Austin, blistering the lanes with nine straight strikes to begin a game. Peters left a 10 pin to stop the streak but added another strike for a glossy 279. That was as good as it got.
After beating Southern handily, Vandy was locked in a relatively tight match with Sam Houston. The Bearcats were striking more and maintained a modest lead throughout and a closing Vandy 255 was not enough. The match was the first meeting of the year with Sam Houston, a frequent foe in most seasons.
The Youngstown State finale got off to a rough start with three missed makable spares dragging down Vandy’s pin count.
“There is a huge difference in these matches being up 20 pins and being up 50 pins,” Williamson noted. “Some of that difference is obviously the math but it also impacts the team psyche.”
Williamson thought the spare shooting, an Achilles heel in recent tournaments, was better at times during the day but said it’s not only a matter of how many spares we miss but when those misses occur.
Saturday’s match card is challenging with top 10 matches against North Carolina A&T, Nebraska, Maryville, Jacksonville State and Arkansas State. Play begins at 9:25 a.m. and is streamed live by BowlTV.