Bowlers take title at Louisiana Tech

RUSTON, La. - The Sam Houston bowlers were wire-to-wire winners this weekend as they took the title at the Louisiana Tech Invitational in the first tournament of the season.

After ending the day on Friday and Saturday at the top of the tournament standings, the Bearkats closed out the victory with a pair of wins on Sunday, including a win against the hosts Louisiana Tech in the finals.

They opened the day beating SFA for the third time in the tournament. In the best-of-7 format, Sam Houston took the opening game by 20 pins and never looked back, winning all four games by an average of 20 pins.

In the finals, the Kats bounced back from a loss in the opening game to La Tech to take the next three games. After dropping game five, the Kats were pushed to the brink in game 6. All-American Bea Hernandez stepped up in the 10^thframe and picked up three strikes to win the game 183-181, clinching the title.

"It was a crazy weekend," said head coach Brad Hagen. "First tournament of the year and you never know how the girls will respond, but they showed a lot of confidence and came up with big shots every time we needed them."

Individually, the Bearkats place two on the All-Tournament Team, including MVP for Denise Blankenzee in her first collegiate tournament. Blankenzee was the top individual scorer for the tournament by an average of 14 pins. Hernandez also was named to the all-tournament team after finishing third individually.

The Bearkats, who are ranked No. 5 in the National Tenpins Association Coaches Poll, posted a 7-record on the weekend with victories over six ranked opponents.

Bowlers take title at Louisiana Tech

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Players Mentioned

Denise Blankenzee

Bea Hernandez

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