ARLINGTON, Texas – In a difficult tournament field that features the top-eight teams in the country, seventh-ranked North Carolina A&T finished the first day at the Prairie View A&M Invitational with a 3-2 record despite having to face three opponents ranked in the top-6 of the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) poll.
The Aggies are 53-29 on the season as they finished Day 1 in seventh place at the ITRC bowling alley.
The Aggies started the tournament with a 1,034-911 loss to No. 6 University Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). They bounced back with a three-pin win over No. 18 Wisconsin-Whitewater, 949-946 in the second match.
UMES won the first game 222-192, but the Aggies won the second (168-58) and third games (211-197). However, the Hawks won the final two games, 212-180 and 245-160.
Against UW-Whitewater, the Aggies lost the first two games, 204-180 and 214-209. in the first. The Aggies won the third game 174-156 to close the gap to 574-563. But UW-Whitewater won the fourth game 191-174 to take a 28-pin lead, 765-737, heading into the final game.
The Aggies came up big in the final game outscoring the Warhawks by 31 pins to defeat UW-Whitewater for their first win of the day.
N.C. A&T also defeated No. 5 Vanderbilt by 11 pins, 987-976, but lost a heartbreaker to the top-ranked team in the nation in McKendree by nine pins, 997-988, in the fourth match.
Vanderbilt won the first game 194-161, but the Aggies flipped the script to win the second game 194-166. The Commodores won the third game 227-198 to take a 587-553 lead heading into the final two games.
The Aggies had a big fourth game winning by 49 pins, 228-179, to take a 781-766 heading into the final game. Vanderbilt won 210-206 but it was not enough to overcome the Aggies total pins in the contest as the Aggies came away with the win.
N.C. A&T won the first two games against McKendree 202-197 and 206-203. in the first game and 206-203. The Bearcats won the third game 217-205 to take a four-pin lead, 617-613, heading into the final two games. The Aggies won the fourth game, 205-176, to take a 25-pin lead, 818-793. McKendree outscored the Aggies by 34 pins to escape with the win.
In the final match of the day, the Aggies defeated St. Francis (Pa.) 986-902. St. Francis (Pa.) was the only non-ranked opponent of the day. St. Francis (Pa.) won the first game 214-205, but the Aggies battled back to win the next two games 214-190 and 213-156. N.C. A&T won the fourth game 193-158, but St. Francis won the final game 184-161.
N.C. A&T recorded 4,821 pins and trails sixth place Stephen F. Austin (SFA), the eighth-ranked team in the nation, by 71 pins. Separating third-place UMES and SFA is 13 pins as UMES recorded 4,906 pins. Vanderbilt recorded 4,905 pins and No. 3 Nebraska recorded 4,901 pins.
The Aggies continue the tournament with five traditional matches Saturday and finishes the tournament with a traditional match followed by two bracket matches.
