HOUSTON – The No. 17 Louisiana Tech bowling team posted an 8-5 overall record, en route to an eighth-place finish among 17 teams competing at this weekend's Track Kat Klash hosted by Sam Houston State.
 
The Lady Techsters finished with a weekend average pinfall of 180.7, better than half of the tournament's competing teams. Of Tech's eight victories on the weekend, five came against ranked opponents, including top-five victories over No. 4 Sam Houston State and No. 5 Arkansas State.
 
"Overall, we had a pretty successful weekend," head coach Matt Nantais commented. "We did not finish exactly where we had hoped, but finishing in eighth with a record of 8-5 in this tough field is pretty good. We just missed too many spares this weekend, and will look to clean that up before we head to Jackson State next weekend."
 
After the first day of competition, Tech found itself in good position among the overall standings after finishing the opening round of baker matches with a 4-1 record. The Techsters notched wins over No. 7 Maryland Eastern Shore (959-919), No. 22 Maryville (906-789), (RV) Prairie View A&M (1,017-884) and No. 5 Arkansas State (876-833). After day one, Tech sat in sixth place with an average pinfall of 186.5.
 
Saturday's action saw a bit of a dip for LA Tech, as the team posted a 2-3 day in the traditional team match format of competition. The Techsters began the day strong, earning a narrow seven-pin win over the host No. 4 Sam Houston State Bearkats (952-945) and an 811-777 triumph over Alabama A&M. However, Tech would fall to ninth place in the overall standings after dropping decisions to No. 2 McKendree (916-1,019), Southern (847-946) and No. 10 Tulane (956-920).
 
Heading into Sunday's bracket play with a chance to finish as high as seventh, Tech came out of the gates hot, earning a gutsy 4-3 (212-158, 137-179, 191-156, 154-173, 188-147, 170-221, 181-165) win over (RV) Youngstown State followed up by a dominating 4-1 (143-174, 168-157, 193-183, 180-167, 218-173) win over No. 16 UAB to advance to the seventh-place game against No. 10 Tulane. In the matchup, Tech tied things up at one game apiece after a 186-174 win, but the Wave rattled off three consecutive games to close out the match, 4-1 (169-180, 186-174, 180-185, 145-202, 184-203).
 
Sophomore Kaitlyn Eder led Tech, finishing 28^th among the talented field with a weekend average of 188.60. Freshman Lindsay Manning joined Eder among the top 50, finishing 43^rd among all individuals with an average of 176.20. Fellow freshman Emily Rettig (71^st, 172.25), senior Kendall Hickman (73^rd, 169.75), sophomore Ashley Channell (80^th, 183.67), freshman Kalia Patterson (83^rd, 174.67) and freshman Sara Howell (102^nd, 179.00) rounded out the individual standings for the Techsters.
 
Tech will return to action next weekend, heading to Jackson, Mississippi, for the JSU Sonic Boom Invitational, running Nov. 9-11. Be sure to subscribe to the LA Tech Bowling YouTube channel and follow @LATechBowl on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the 2018-19 Lady Techsters.