MEDAILLE BOWLING DEFEATS UNIV OF NEBRASKA IN NCAA TOURNAMENT

The Medaille College women's bowling team went 1-1 on day one of the 2021 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship in Kansas City, MO, including an upset over top-ranked University of Nebraska in the first match of the day.

The format for the opening round of the tournament was a mega-match – meaning the opening frame would be played in Traditional, the second being Baker five-game total pin-fall and the third, if necessary being Baker best-of-seven.  
 
The Mavs dominated the Traditional portion of the match, eclipsing the 1,000-pin mark for the first time all season.
 
The blue-and-gold had three Mavericks roll a 200 or better with Mackenzi Derleth leading the team with a 226. Sarah Radt and Carla Hansen would join the 200 club with a 207 and a 200, respectively. Elizabeth Minnard put up a 190 and freshman Kendyll Jaskier added on 189, leading to the 1012-967 victory.

In the second portion of the match, the Mavs opened up the first two games of a total of five trailing by 43 pins. By the end of the five games, the Mavs would find themselves needing a Baker best-of-seven to decide a victor.
 
The Huskers would take down the Mavs in the first of a best of seven (185-172). However, the Mavs would bounce back. Even with the Huskers rolling their best Baker game of the day with a 227, the Mavs put up an outstanding 236, leading to a swing in momentum. The Mavs would win the next two games by scores of 213-174 and 203-201 with the Mavs needing one more win to down their D-I opponent. With the Mavs leading the series 3-1, a nail-biter would occur in the fifth game. With the game coming down to the end, the Huskers got big shots in the later stages of the game, pushing them over the Mavs, 189-181. Ultimately, the Mavs would end it all in game six. Medaille got the job done and took advantage of one of the Huskers lowest scores of the day and rolled a respectable 186 to advance with a 1-0 record in the NCAA Tournament. 
 
In Baker format, Janelle Pezzimenti stepped up big for the Mavs, finishing with a 22.08 Baker average in 12 frames of work. Minnard would end the match with an even 20 Baker average with Derleth right behind averaging 19. Radt and Hansen would end the opening match with an 18.57 and an 18.1, respectively.
 
The win was the first NCAA Tournament win in program history for the Medaille women's bowling team.

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Following their victory over the University of Nebraska, Medaille then squared off with Vanderbilt University in their second match of the day. However, the Mavericks ultimately fell to the Commodores to go 1-1 on day one of the NCAA National Tournament.

Vanderbilt got out to a hot start in Traditional play, putting up an impressive 1073. The Mavs battled but would result in only taking down 871 pins, taking the loss in the opening frame of the match. Hansen led the Mavericks with a 200 and Radt finished with a 179 with Jaskier totaling 170 pins.
 
Vanderbilt carried their strong performance into the Baker portion of the second match, finishing the opening game with a 245. The Mavs dug themselves a hole that would be too big to overcome, ultimately losing the five game total pin-fall (1051-802) and the match.
 
Pezzimenti ended with a 19.33 Baker average in three frames of work. Minnard finished the day with an 18.89 Baker average. Paige Herndon and Brianna Thurston chipped in a 13.75 and 13.66 average, respectively.
 
With the win against Nebraska earlier in the day, the Mavs are guaranteed at least one match on Thursday due to the double-elimination format. They will await the winner of the Nebraska – Mount St. Mary's game. Thursday's match is scheduled for a 10 AM start.