ARLINGTON, Texas – The seventh-ranked Louisiana Tech bowling team dropped a close match to No. 10 Sam Houston before beating Belmont Abbey College on the first day of the NCAA Regional at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas.
Louisiana Tech opened the traditional portion of the match, looking like they had found their mark, but that quickly changed in the third frame. Kylee Trexler struck to open the frame, but the rest of the Bulldogs split to give the Bearkats the early lead. Two more splits in the fourth would doom Tech in a 999-939 loss. Trexler finished with a 233, while Allie Leiendecker and Patricia Rosales bounced back to throw 209 and 194, respectively.
Looking to tie the match, Tech started slow and fell behind 54 pins after throwing a 149 in the first game. They quickly made adjustments and rolled 210, 257, and 235 to turn the deficit into a 120-pin lead. Sam Houston would throw 11 strikes for a 277, but that would not be enough, as Tech rolled a 178 to give them a 1,029-1,008 win to tie the match at 1-1.
It would all come down to the best-of-seven Baker match, and the Bulldogs carried that momentum over and held a 2-1 advantage after taking games one, 182-155, and game three, 237-214. Tech dropped game two 207-190. LA Tech would have at least two opens in games four, five, and six, costing them all three in close contests. Sam Houston would take the games 172-167, 202-182, and 176-156 to take the best-of-seven and the match 2-1.
In the win-or-go-home match against Belmont Abbey, LA Tech quickly found their mark and ran away with it. Abbie Leiendecker led the Bulldogs in the traditional game with a 238, while Trexler had another strong game with a 214. The Bulldogs would win by over 100 pints, 975-871.
Looking to close out the match, Tech opened with a 197 to take a 27-pin lead and never looked back. The Bulldogs followed that up with 236, 195, 196, and 211 to take the Baker set 1,045-848 and the match 2-0.
UP NEXT
Louisiana Tech will play the fourth overall seed North Carolina A&T in an elimination match on Saturday, April 6, at 9 a.m., live on BowlTV.
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