The Sam Houston women’s bowling team finished 11 in the 30-team field at the Columbia 300 Music City Classic women’s bowling tournament in Smyrna, Tennessee.
The Bearkats slipped from fourth place to 11 in the total pins standings and will face No. 9 Maryland Eastern Shore in the first round of best of seven bracket play Sunday.
The winner of the No. 11 vs. 12 seeds matchup will take on the loser of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 seeds contest between LIU-Brooklyn and Sacred Heart.
Sunday, the No. 4 ranked Bearkats went seven games in two of their best of seven bracket games on the final day of competition.
No. 9 Maryland-Eastern Shore edged the Kats 210 to 204 in the seventh game of the opening match of the day. The SHSU women bounced back to defeat No. 14 Saint Francis (Penn.) in seven games in the second round.
In the playoff for 11 place, the Kats took six games to dismiss No. 12 LIU-Brooklyn. The Bearkats ended the tournament with a 10-5 record to stand 97-42 for the season.
“I’m happy that we bounced back and got the wins that we needed to get,” Sam Houston Head Coach Brad Hagen said.
No. 3 Vanderbilt placed third, followed by Central Michigan, Fairleigh Dickinson, Wisconsin-Whitewater, Maryland Eastern Shore and Sacred Heart in the number four through ten positions.
The Bearkats started traditional team play Saturday with an 889 to 854 loss to No. 18 Saint Francis Brooklyn.
The Bearkats bounced back with a 791 to 774 victory over Felician.
No. 2 ranked Arkansas State is the number one seed in bracket play Sunday. ASU, like SHSU, holds an 8-4 record in the tournament but leads in total pins with 11,729. Next, No. 6 Central Missouri handed the Sam women their second loss of the day 939 to 923.
The Bearkats finished the day with three consecutive victories against No. 12 LIU-Brooklyn in an 888 to 886 thriller, No. 9 Fairleigh Dickinson 992 to 944 and Florida A&M 1,021 to 782.
Friday, in four-game baker team action, SHSU started with a 977 to 815 win over No. 25 Jackson State.
The Kats followed up in a victory over Alabama State 1,054 to 879, Texas rival No. 5 SFA 948 to 863 and No. 11 Maryland Eastern Shore 896 to 886.
SHSU totaled 11,176 pins on their way to their 8-4 record Friday and Saturday. Senior Anna Groce posted the team’s top individual average with a 186.3 mark.
SHSU has upped its season dual match win-loss record to 95-41. The Kats entered the tournament as one of only three teams in the country with more than 80 victories.
“We did crack 90 wins, we’re at 93 and our goal was 100 for the year,” Hagen said. “We didn’t quite get to 100, but we got close to our goal, and that’s all that matters.”
