Following its second-place finish at the Northeast Classic, No. 2 Vanderbilt Bowling traveled to Lockport, Illinois, to compete in the Storm Flyer Classic. Despite strong performances from a variety of bowlers — one of whom captured the tournament’s individual singles title — the Commodores came up just short once again.
Day 1
Vanderbilt kicked off Day 1 of five best-of-seven Baker series with narrow wins over No. 10 Maryville (951-938) and No. 17 Tulane (951-941). Then, the Commodores’ sole loss of the afternoon came against top-seeded Jacksonville State, which cruised to a 1,065-960 win over the Black and Gold. Vanderbilt rebounded well from the defeat, scoring over 1,000 pins in matches against No. 13 North Carolina A&T and Indianapolis to finish the day with a 4-1 record and a fourth-place position on the team leaderboard.
“Today started out with some good wins, but the shot-making was lacking,” head coach John Williamson said. “I liked the last two rounds. I felt like we played pretty well and ended up respectable in the standings. Tomorrow, we’ll have a better approach to start, and we’ll be in a much better place tomorrow night.”
Day 2
The Commodores fired on all cylinders on Day 2, which featured a set of five traditional matches. The ’Dores collected a dominant 1,118-825 win over Marian in the opening round before doubling down with a 1,079-960 victory against No. 19 McKendree. Williamson’s squad did not stop there, beating Carroll and No. 14 Sam Houston State by scores of 990-872 and 1,151-1,122, respectively. The second-ranked Commodores capped off the evening with a 1,122-906 takedown of No. 12 Wright State. The effort propelled Vanderbilt to the No. 3 spot on the tournament leaderboard.
“It was a really solid day,” Williamson said. “We executed the game plan about as well as we could have. I really liked the way we competed in the Sam Houston match.”
First-year Avery Domaguin was especially dominant on Day 2, compiling scores of 225, 256, 214, 255 and 215 en route to the tournament’s individual singles title. Saphyre Nofuente also finished in the top five on the singles leaderboard with scores of 237, 256, 159, 226 and 224. Alyssa Ballard and Katelyn Abigania finished 15th and 17th in the individual standings, respectively.
Day 3
The Commodores began Championship Sunday with a gritty, 248-200 win over fourth-seeded Sacred Heart in a best-of-seven Baker series. The Black and Gold then faced off against Sam Houston State, quickly jumping out to a 3-0 lead before the Bearcats stormed back to force Game 7. With a spot in the championship match on the line, the ’Dores buckled down, rolling their way to a 202-171 victory and a date with No. 1 Jacksonville State. The Commodores’ high-level play faltered against the Gamecocks, who cruised to a 4-1 victory to clinch the tournament trophy.
“Today was a tough Championship Sunday. We had two really good rounds to start,” Williamson said. “I thought we had opportunities against Jacksonville State but ultimately came up short. We competed very hard all weekend, and this weekend was a steady improvement from the last event. We look forward to the Nebraska event in two weeks as another opportunity to improve and compete.”
Vanderbilt will have a weekend of rest before traveling to Lincoln, Nebraska, for the Big Red Invitational Feb. 20-22.
