NASHVILLE – A record-breaking Saturday powered the 11
th-ranked Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters to a fourth place finish in a highly competitive field at the Music City Classic last weekend.
Allie Leiendecker earned all-tournament honors for the seventh time this season after averaging 215.80 and placing fifth overall.
Kaitlyn Eder (206.20 – 15
th) and
Danielle Jedlicki (205.20 – 18
th) also posted top-20 performances.
Ashley Channell (197.40 – 32
nd) and
Lindsay Manning (185.60 – 56
th) rounded out Tech's top five finishers in Nashville.
The Lady Techsters had a slow start to the weekend, placing 12
th after the first day of action. The Techsters opened the day by notching more than 1,000 pins, but fell 1,021-1,016 to no. 4 Vanderbilt. The Techsters also dropped their next two matches to no. 24 Lincoln Memorial (894-869) and no. 18 Adelphi (931-927). They rebounded in a big way by blowing out North Central (Ill.) (990-969) and defeating no. 7 Youngstown State (980-884).
The late wins on Friday set the stage for a big time performance on Saturday. Tech split its first two matches with a win over Valparaiso (979-891) and loss to Upper Iowa (948-893) before reeling off three straight wins with more than 1,000 pins to close the day. The Lady Techsters opened the stretch with a big win over no. 2 Sam Houston State (1,064-1,002) before taking down no. 13 Central Missouri (1,061-924) and Lewis (1,054-861) to close the big day.
Three straight games with 1,000 or more is a school record and it vaulted the Lady Techsters up 8 spots into 4
th place.
The Techsters opened bracket play with a chance to win the tournament, opening against no. 5 Arkansas State. The Red Wolves pulled out a come-from-behind win by taking each of the final three games to advance.
That left the Lady Techsters with another match against a top-10 foe: no. 6 Maryland-Eastern Shore. Tech pulled out a comeback win of their own, winning the final three games to advance to the third-fourth place match against no. 4 Vanderbilt. The Commodores took third with a decisive 4-0 victory.
The Lady Techsters will be in action once again next weekend. Tech competes at the USBC Dallas Sectional on March 13-15.
