CORAM, N.Y. (October 29, 2021) – The Mount St. Mary's women's bowling team defeated the #4 team in the nation, taking down Vanderbilt in the second match of the Dezy Strong Invite to highlight day one of competition. The win marked the highest ranked victory for The Mount in the program's four-year history.
 
Overall, the ladies are sitting in seventh place out of 18 teams in a stacked field on low scoring conditions. The Mount picked up one additional win over the University of Alabama-Birmingham, but fell to #10 Stephen F. Austin, #16 Tulane, and #22 Prairie View A&M. Senior Rebecca Dodson led the Mount with a 19.58 baker frame average. Fellow seniors Tamera Stanton and Ashley Santos also contributed to the scoring with respective frame averages of 18.36 and 18.21.
 
Mount: 819 | Stephen F. Austin: 949
 
The Mount started off rough, failing to execute lines in a lopsided lost to the #10 ranked Lumberjacks. A full bench substitution was made in the final two games that provided some spark of life heading into a big match with Vandy.
 
Mount: 938 | Vanderbilt: 893
 
After a 159 start it seemed the Mount struggles would continue, but amid more lineup changes and adjustments the Mountaineers would find their stride against the fourth best team in the land and pull off their biggest ranked victory to date. It was also the first time the Mountaineers have beat the Commodores, a rematch from the opening round of the 2021 NCAA National Tournament.
 
Mount: 966 | UAB: 877
 
The Mount carried their momentum from a victory high over Vandy into their match with UAB to the tune of a 966-877 victory. Final scores of 224 and 200 helped put some cushion between their opponent.
 
Mount: 890 | Tulane: 954
 
MSM would drop to 2-2 after a hard fought battle with the Green Wave of Tulane. The Mount never dipped below 150 to avoid disaster, but also could never find a way past 200 to offset mediocre games in the set.
 
Mount: 878 | Prairie View A&M: 908
 
The Mount would lose back-to-back matches for the first time all season in another tight contest, this time with the Panthers of Prairie View. Once again, the Mount could not find the big game and splits became an issue in games four and five to stunt any idea of a Mountaineer comeback.
 
"I think today exposes we aren't yet a great team on low scoring conditions," said head coach Kenneth DeGraaf. "We can strike with anyone when the pattern allows for medium to high scores, but when the patterns calls for grinding it out in the spare game we need to be better. We need to keep more shots in play. The miss room was to the right more so than the left for us, yet we kept finding a way to miss two or three boards in trying to rely on an inconsistent hold."
 
"There were bright spots today… the match against Vanderbilt obviously being one. However, if we truly we want to be a great team these are the kind of tournaments we have to put ourselves in a position to win. Thankfully, with low scores if we can pop a couple big sets tomorrow we can be right back in the thick of things come Sunday. That is what we will aspire to do."
 
The Mount will be back in action at 9:30 AM tomorrow with five traditional matches against Molloy, Felician, Youngstown State, Adelphi and Long Island. After qualifying tomorrow teams will be seeded for bracket play come Sunday. The Mount will have to climb into the top four if they want a shot at the tournament crown. All matches will be livestreamed on the team's Facebook page.