Bowling 8th in Music City Classic
3/20/2011 9:23:00 AM | Women's Bowling
The Sam Houston women's bowling team defeated No. 18 Wisconsin-Whitewater and No. 12 Adelphi before falling to No. 7 Kutztown as the Bearkats placed eighth in bracket play on the final day of the Columbia 300 Music City Classic Saturday in Smyra, Tenn.
No. 5 Nebraska upset No. 1 Fairleight Dickinson in the Sunday finals to earn the tournament title. No. 3 Central Missouri place third.
Sam Houston, which started the day seeded 10th, earned the eighth place standing with a pair of 4-3 wins in Baker match play. Kutztown defeated SHSU 4-2.
The Bearkats ended the tournament with a 9-6 record over the three days to complete regular season action with a 68-35 overall match record.
"The girls left it all out there Sunday," Sam Houston head coach Brad Hagen said. "They put an explination mark on our resume with a solid day. We are still in good shape for consideration by the NCAA Comittee."
The Bearkats won twice and lost four matches in traditional five-player team action Saturday. Sam Houston defeated unranked Jackson State 1,017-986 and No. 12 Adelphi 991-936 in their fourth and fifth matches of the day. SHSU opened Saturday with a loss to No. 19 Minnesota State 848-842, then fell to No. 15 Saint Francis 962-861and No. 10 Sacred Heart 1,122-883. The Kats ended the day witha 958-944 loss to No. 7 Kutztown.
Aida Sanchez and Kimi Davidson led the Bearkats, Sanchez averaging 197.6 pins in five matches and Davidson 190.2 in six contests. .
Friday, in Baker four-game quad matches, the only loss for Sam Houston was to the defending NCAA Division I national champions Fairleigh Dickinson, the number 1 ranked team in the nation now.
FDU defeated the Bearkats 837-773. In other action Friday, Sam Houston defeated Wisconsin-Whitewater 713-663, Southern 775-693, No. 16 Alabama A&M 753-644, Monmouth 749-668 and Texas Southern 766-614.
"After a strong showing on Friday, on Saturday we had one of those days where we had some great looks, a few bad breaks and the other teams had it going for them when they needed it the most," Sam Houston head coach Brad Hagen said. "I was very proud of our girls for keeping their composure. Our first and fifth matches Saturday were the toughest and we had combined losses of less than 20 pins. Kimi Davidson posted a 238 and Aida Sanchez a 212 in our win over Jackson State. Aida added a 211, Neishka Cardona a 224 and Dayna Galganski a 203 against Adelphi."
The Music City Classic was hosted by Vanderbilt University at the Smyrna Bowling Center in Smyrna, Tennessee. Thirteen of the top 15-ranked teams in the national rankings are competing in the Music City Classic. Less than two weeks after the tournament, the eight teams for the 2011 NCAA Division I Women's Bowling Championship will be selected.
Sam Houston stands No. 9 in the March National Tenpins Coaches Association (NTCA) rankings. The latest NCAA Division I RPI (Rating Percentage Index) figures have the Bearkats back in the No. 5 position.
The 2011 NCAA Division I Women's Bowling Championship will be hosted by the University of Detroit Mercy and the Detroit Metro Sports Commission on April 14-16 at the Skore Lanes in Taylor, Michigan.
All eight berths in the national tournament are at-large selections. The selection criteria are overall won-lost record, head-to-head competition, results versus common opponents, overall strength of schedule and overall RPI.
The selection committee will announced the eight NCAA Championship participants on March 30.
