The No. 4 Vanderbilt Bowling team opened the 2024-2025 season by finishing fourth at the Destination Orlando Tournament from Oct. 18-20. After going 10-1 in pool play matches, the Commodores went 0-2 in bracket play, narrowly faltering against No. 5 Nebraska and No. 2 Arkansas State.
“Overall, it was a pretty good opening weekend,” head coach John Williamson said. “It shows that we’re capable, we’re talented and we have the ability to compete with anybody out there. But, at the end of it, you just have to make shots.”
Vanderbilt started slow in its season-opening game against Alabama State, totaling three opens and only 160 points with a lineup consisting of Isabel Allen, Alyssa Ballard, Haley Lindley, Victoria Varano and Paige Peters. The Commodores steadily chipped away at the Hornets’ lead for two games before a dominant 289-203 game 4 victory gave Vanderbilt the lead and, ultimately, the series.
“Honestly, it was a really good experience,” the graduate transfer Allen said. “I was very nervous on Friday being on a new team, but the girls were very welcoming. They made me feel very calm and collected.”
The Commodores had to mount a similar comeback against Monmouth, this time storming back in the fifth and final game. Against Arkansas State, Vanderbilt wasn’t so fortunate. Despite jumping out to a narrow lead after game 1, the Commodores faced a relentless Arkansas State offense that scored 269 in the third game. That put the Red Wolves ahead by 41, which was simply too much for the Commodores to recover from, handing them their only loss of pool play.
Vanderbilt bested Florida A&M in a relatively uneventful match before facing No. 6 North Carolina A&T in Friday’s final match. The Aggies, usually prolific, struggled mightily in the first game — losing 226-154. With a margin that wide, the Commodores were able to sit on their lead for the remainder of the match, ultimately winning 1,053-1,003.
Vanderbilt’s second day of action was relatively uneventful as the team breezed to a 5-0 finish by an average margin of 113.2 pins. The Commodores racked up wins over Daemen, Wright State, No. 7 Louisiana Tech, Emmanuel and No. 13 Tulane. On Sunday, the Commodores concluded pool play with a 1,014-979 victory over No. 18 Sacred Heart — giving the Black and Gold a 10-1 record.
“Every girl that was bowling and every girl that was not bowling was giving their 110%,” Allen said. “We were all together as one. It was all as a collective.”
With an average of 207.9 pins per game, the Commodores opened bracket play in second place only behind reigning national champions No. 1 Jacksonville State. That matched Vanderbilt up with Nebraska in the first round of the bracket with a spot in the championship match on the line.
In the first two games of the best-of-seven series, the Cornhuskers eked out narrow victories by a combined margin of only five pins. The gap widened slightly in game 3, with the Cornhuskers taking a 3-0 series lead via a 210-193 victory. The Commodores came back in game 4 thanks in part to a lineup shift that brought in Natalie Kent for Lindley and rearranged the rotation.
Looking as if they might make it a series, the Commodores narrowly clinched game 5, 222-220. Despite errors from Nebraska, two opens in game 6 cost Vanderbilt a shot at tying the series. By a margin of 4-2, the Commodores would be relegated to the third-place game.
“[We made] little mistakes that are so easy to improve,” Allen said. “They’re such minor mistakes where, for a first tournament, I would take that. They’re not things that need to be drastically improved.”
Once again, opposite Vanderbilt in the battle for third place was Arkansas State, who lost out to Jacksonville State in a tight 4-3 series. The Commodores picked up a commanding 225-172 lead in game 1 before falling flat in game 2. Losing a high-scoring game three 238-220 seemed to suck all the air out of the Commodores, as the team had a disastrous 151-pin performance in game 4. Despite rebounding in game 5, the Red Wolves’ offense proved too prolific to counter, and Vanderbilt dropped the series in five games.
“We just made one more mistake than Arkansas [State] and Nebraska in the best of seven,” Williamson said. “Any one of those games was winnable.”
With the two losses in bracket play, the Commodores finished fourth in a talented field at Destination Orlando. Honored for her individual performance was the graduate transfer Allen, who — in her first tournament wearing the Black and Gold — finished as the fifth overall scorer in the competition with an average of 229.8 pins per game.
“[Allen] showed a poise and a professionalism that’s hard to find in a college player,” Williamson said. “She was emotional in a positive sense. She didn’t carry the negative with her.”
The Commodores will return to action when they head to Kenosha, Wisconsin, for the Ladyjack Classic from Nov. 8-10. Last season, Vanderbilt came one pin short of gold at the Stephen F. Austin-hosted tournament.
