Bowling Takes Down No. 1 Team in Nation’s Biggest Tournament
READING, PA - Call it historical, or even magical, but the Howard bowling team made history in the lanes, taking down the top-ranked Vanderbilt University in the Kutztown Invitational in Reading, Pa.
"I feel good about our performance," Bison head coach Ron Davis said. "I saw a lot of our hard work finally come through."
The KU Invite marks the nation's biggest NCAA tournament for bowling and the Bison (23-55, 5-15 MEAC) would prove in their head-to-head match against Vanderbilt that they, too, had the potential to be in the country's elite class of bowlers. Howard took down 979 pins over the Commodores 945.
With the win over Vanderbilt, Howard improved to 9-31 (2-8 MEAC) in head-to-head games.
"Saturday was our high, it was definitely a confidence booster," Davis said.
Over the course of the weekend HU went 2-4 in the head-to-head matches, and recorded their first victory against Pennsylvania State-Altoona, knocking down 895 over their opponent's 796 before defeating Vanderbilt.
Three pins would have made all the difference for the Bison, as they fell in a close heat to Florida A&M (839-841). The Bison would also drop to Valparaiso (807-1022), St. Francis (NY) (819-857) and Adelphi (835-929).
"I was a little disappointed on Sunday because we didn't live up to our expectations," Davis said after an disappointing loss to Adelphi following a historic win over top-ranked Vanderbilt.
"We lost to Adelphi by not closing out and missing spares," Davis added.
The Bison, however, left Reading, Pa. with a winning record in the baker games as the team finished the weekend, 5-4, lifting the Bison to 14-24 (3-7 MEAC) for the year. HU played all of their baker games were on Friday, except for an additional set of games in which the Bison successfully took down PSU-Altoona (824-722).
On Friday, the Bison would drop only two sets throughout the Kutztown Invite, as they dropped to Wisconsin-Whitewater in a tight bout (739-753) and later to Bethune-Cookman (629-736).
By the close of the weekend, sophomore Jasmine Hardesty, junior Briana Uzzell, and Smith would record new highs in pin falls in a single game. Uzzell reached a new high of 256 which leads the Bison, while the freshman broke her previous high of 185 back on Dec. 5, 2010 and notched 205 over the weekend. Hardesty beat out her previous best of 180 and bowled a new high of 198 at the KU Invite.
Next on the Bison's schedule is a trip to Dover, Del. on Feb. 11 where Howard will participate in the Capital Classic.
"I definitely can't wait until the next tournament so I can see what they can do."
