Youngstown State University
Vanderbilt
Penguins Fall 2-1 to Vanderbilt, Will Face Louisiana Tech Sunday in Elimination Match
3/26/2022 12:00:00 AM | Bowling
The Youngstown State bowling team dropped its first match of the 2022 Southland Bowling League Championship 2-1 to Vanderbilt in the winners bracket final on Saturday. The double-elimination tournament is being held at Colonial Bowling Lanes in Harahan, La.
The Penguins, who are the fourth seed in the tournament, will now bowl an elimination match against fifth-seeded Louisiana Tech on Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern. YSU beat La Tech in its first match on Friday, and the Penguins will need to top the Lady Techsters again and beat Vanderbilt twice on Sunday to claim the first conference title in school history.
YSU's contest against Louisiana Tech and its potential first match against Vanderbilt would both be the mega match format that has been consistent throughout the weekend. If the Penguins can beat the Lady Techsters and the Commodores, the championship match would move straight to a best-of-seven Baker format.
Youngstown State and Vanderbilt split the traditional and quint Baker points by narrow margins, and the Penguins were forced to go to a best-of-seven Baker round for the third straight match. While YSU prevailed 4-1 and 4-0 on Friday, the Penguins couldn't find enough strikes on Saturday and fell 4-0 to the Commodores.
"I'm very proud of our effort today," said YSU head coach Doug Kuberski. "We had a lot of fun out there going shot for shot. Our spirits are high, our energy positive and powerful, and our focus remains the same heading into tomorrow. We'll enjoy a relaxing evening with friends and family, rest up, and prepare ourselves for a strong championship Sunday performance."
The first two rounds in the winners bracket final both came down to the final frame, and YSU won the traditional point by five pins and dropped the Baker point by nine.
In the traditional round, the Penguins got behind early with five opens in the first two frames, but they settled in and kept pace with Vanderbilt as the match went on. The Penguins got to within a mark of the Commodores after seven frames and had strikes throughout the lineup in the eighth, but Vandy had a string of 11 straight strikes across its lineup from the eighth into the 10th frames as it maintained a lead.
YSU's Emma Wrenn struck to finish a clean ninth frame, and the Penguins had 10 straight strikes to start the 10th frame. Lyndsay Ennis tripled to offset a turkey from Vandy's leadoff bowler, and Kirsten Moore and Jade Cote followed with their own triples to finish off 224 and 215 games, respectively. Emma Dockery followed with a strike and a spare to post a 215, and the fourth bowler in Vanderbilt's lineup missed a 4-pin to open the door for Wrenn. YSU's anchor struck on her first ball for her fourth straight strike, and she followed with a nine to close out a 1,044-1,039 win for the Penguins.
The scoring pace picked up for both teams in the quint Baker round as nine of the 10 games went over 20. The Penguins were clean in the first two games and posted totals of 238 and 269 to build a 72-pin lead on the Commodores after two games.
Vanderbilt had a big answer in game three with an 11-strike 276, and the Penguins had six nines on first balls in a 172 game as the Commodores flipped the match and took a 711-679 lead with two games remaining. Youngstown State moved back to the high-scoring lane 20 for game four and shaved 24 pins off the lead with a 226 that saw the Penguins throw the back seven strikes.
YSU was clean and had a triple going into the 10th in game five, but Wrenn missed a shade high on her first attempt and had to settle for an eight-count. She converted the spare and added a nine on her fill shot to give YSU a 225 and force Vanderbilt to double in the 10th to extend the match. Freshman Paige Peters answered the call and tripled, and Vanderbilt won the game 226-225 and the high-scoring Baker round 1,139-1,130.
In the best-of-seven match play round, Vanderbilt won all four games by double digits. YSU had two early opens in game one, and Vanderbilt strung five strikes together in a 205-171 win. The Penguins then left four splits in game two in a 191-168 loss, and YSU had just three strikes in game three as Vanderbilt won 193-180 to go up 3-0. The Penguins had a pair of doubles and just one open in game four as they shot 205 for their highest game in the round, but the Commodores also had their highest total at 225 to finish the match.
Youngstown State averaged 207 overall in the match, and their average for the tournament is 210.5. Individually, Wrenn is averaging a team-high 230.3 in traditional play, Dockery is averaging 222, and Cote is averaging 214.3.
