MILLSBORO, Del. (November 19, 2021) – Mount St. Mary's women's bowling team picked up a much needed win over #4 nationally ranked Vanderbilt on day one of the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawk Classic at Millsboro Lanes in Millsboro, Del. In addition to playing Vandy, the Mount saw a stacked schedule against #5 North Carolina A&T, #6 Sam Houston State and #20 Maryland Eastern Shore. The win against the Commodores would be the Mountaineers lone on the day.
A season low set against MDES and close losses to NCAT and SHSU have the Mount at 1-3 on the young weekend. A slightly friendlier, but still challenging schedule, awaits the Mountaineers tomorrow for a chance to improve the record heading into bracket play Sunday. Senior
Tamera Stanton led all bowlers with a 20.73 baker frame average.
#13 Mount: 941 | BYE
The Mount opened up with a bye round due to an odd number of teams at the event. After a 247 game one it seemed the ladies would be destined for a huge opening day. However, the next four games failed to get any higher than 180 and the Mountaineers would have to settle for a respectable 941 on fresh conditions.
#13 Mount: 746 | #20 Maryland Eastern Shore: 995
Looking to kick-off a tough competition weekend with a win, The Mount picked an inopportune time to shoot their season low against MDES. All five games faltered below 170 as the Mountaineers struggled on the opposite side of the house that saw drastic changes in lane play from the low end.
#13 Mount: 1,071 | #6 Sam Houston State: 1,087
The competition would only get tougher, as a terrific 1,071 set for the Mountaineers would be spoiled by a 1,087 from the Bearcats. Trying to complete a comeback, the ladies went 264 in game five, but a 236 from SHSU was enough to hold and hand the Mount a tough draw loss.
#13 Mount: 917 | #5 North Carolina A&T: 967
After a rough 150 out of the gate, the Mountaineers hanged even with the fifth ranked Aggies the next three games to set a realistic shot at their first win of the weekend come game five. However, a 190-168 advantage for the Aggies would drop the ladies to 0-3.
#13 Mount: 995 | #4 Vanderbilt: 980
Refusing to hang their heads, the Mount picked up a much needed win in comeback fashion over the Commodores to match their program record of highest nationally ranked team ever beaten. That record was set earlier this year in Long Island when The Mount also beat the then #4 Commodores. Down over 30-pins with four frames remaining in the final game, the ladies recorded the last six strikes to shock the bowling powerhouse.
"As I told the team, today was our halfway point of the season to see how ready for nationals we are," said head coach
Kenneth DeGraaf. "Nine of the 15 teams in attendance qualified for the NCAA tournament last season. Two of them, Adelphi and Maryland Eastern Shore, did not play last year due to Covid and very well could have made it if they did. So, you are looking at 11 of the best teams in the nation. Unlike earlier tournaments, mental miscues and blunders hurt a little bit more here."
"The opening round with the bye we actually did pretty well for tight conditions, but we completely lost our look against MDES. Give the ladies credit, they rebounded from our low set of the season to one of our best against Sam Houston and 99 times out of 100 that 1,071 set is a win. We just got a tough draw there. NCAT we had some early mistakes that cost us, but we didn't bowl awful. Against Vandy we still gave them too big of a lead early, but you saw what we are capable of by pulling out that win. You take out that 746 and from an average perspective we are sitting in fourth. Unfortunately, we cannot, and face an uphill climb we are more than capable of making tomorrow. We have a new game plan on how to hit that second match transition and I expect a big day from the ladies."
Competition will resume tomorrow with five traditional matches beginning at 10:00 a.m. The Mount will take on #19 Monmouth, #14 Delaware State, #7 Youngstown State, #11 Duquesne and #8 Fairleigh Dickinson. Matches will be streamed live on the team's Facebook page.
