HARAHAN, La. – The seventh-ranked Louisiana Tech bowling team dropped the first match to Vanderbilt before winning against Tulane to stay alive at the Conference USA Championships at Colonial Lanes on Friday.
Louisiana Tech opened the traditional game with 20 strikes in the first 25 attempts. Abbie Leiendecker and Danielle Jedlicki started with a six-bagger before finishing with 255 and 244, respectively. Kylee Trexler rolled a 225, Allie Leiendecker shot 216, and Patricia Rosales rounded out the scoring with a 205. The Bulldogs took a 1-0 advantage with the 1,145-1,022 win.
Early on, it looked like the Bulldogs would take the Baker match and quickly move on to the winner's bracket. Tech started with a 61-pin advantage after rolling a 234 in the opening game. However, No. 4 Vanderbilt promptly took advantage of opens by Tech and took a four-pin lead after three. The Bulldogs found their mark on the left lane, and thanks to a Commodore opening in the 10th, Tech had a 30-pin lead heading into the final game. Vanderbilt opened the game with the front five before opening and giving Tech a chance. Unfortunately, a washout in the 10th would allow Vanderbilt to take the point with a nine count, 989-987.
That would set up the best-of-seven Baker match to decide who would move on to the winner's bracket. The Commodores took an early lead after taking game one 242-224. The Bulldogs bounced back to finish with a 711 for the first three and took a 2-1 advantage, taking games two and three 236-206 and 251-195. The teams would trade the next three games to force a deciding game seven. Tech took an early lead, but Vandy would come back strong for the final seven in a row to take the game 258-234 and secure the match 4-3.
Tech opened the traditional game strong once again. The Bulldogs would roll another 1,100 to win 1,112-903. Trexler led the way with a 248, followed by Rosales at 242. Jedlicki and Abbie Leiendecker were the other bowlers in the plus, with 230 and 212, respectively.
Eighth-seeded Tulane quickly found that mark and was in the plus for all five Baker games. Tech would be close behind, but a 47-pin deficit would be too much for the Bulldogs to overcome, falling 1,052-1,038. Tech still had impressive 205, 179, 257, 192, and 205 games.
It all came down to the best-of-seven Baker match, and one lane was playing tighter than the other, which caused problems for both teams. Tech opened on the left lane, which had more room for error, and came away with the 236-159 win. The right lane caused problems the whole time, but Tech would still be competitive. Tulane would take games two (190-173), four (187-179), and six (214-182), while Tech took games one, three (245-186), and five (217-146).
The match came down to the final game, and Tech chose to stay on the left lane. Tulane had figured out the lane just in time, and it came down to the 10thg frame. After Allie Leiendecker looked like she would leave the 7-10, the 10 fell late and kept the Bulldog's hopes alive. Tulane's anchor bowler needed to strike out to lock up the win but would not come through, leaving Allie Leiendecker needing to pick up the spare for the win. She did that and struck in the fill ball to give Tech the game 236-224 and the match 4-3.
UP NEXT
The CUSA Championships continue tomorrow starting at 9 a.m. at Colonial Lanes. No. 5 Louisiana Tech will face No. 4 Vanderbilt in a rematch of the first round.
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