ARLINGTON, Texas – North Carolina A&T bowling went from eighth place to fifth on the final day of the Prairie View A&M Invitational Sunday at the International Training and Research Center.
Before bracket play, the second-ranked team in the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) poll, A&T, fell to third-ranked Vanderbilt 1,066-935 to enter bracket play as the No. 8 seed.
Graduate Katie Robb bowled a 174 against Vanderbilt to finish in second place, six pins behind first-place Madyson Marx from Youngstown State. Marx finished with 1,322 pins and Robb totaled 1,316 for a six-match average of 219.33. Jada Bassette bowled her only individual match with a 207 against Vanderbilt.
Sophomore Chloe Newberry bowled 192 against Vanderbilt to total 1,125 pins. Senior Lauren Tomaszewski bowled a 208 against Vandy to total 1,111 pins and junior Melanie Katen had 154 for a 1,107-pin total.
A&T started bracket play against seventh-ranked and fifth-seed Youngstown State. The Aggies defeated Youngstown 4-0 to advance to face eighth-ranked Sam Houston State University (SHSU). Against the Penguins, the Aggies totaled 839 pins in the match for an average of 209.8.
SHSU entered the contest with A&T after defeating sixth-ranked Arkansas State 4-1. But the Aggies knocked off the Bearkats, 4-2, in the best-of-seven matchup. The Aggies and the Bearkats split the first four games before the Aggies dominated Game 5, 214-166. The Aggies ended things to earn fifth place by defeating SHSU 194-173.
The Aggies totaled 1,614 pins against the Bearkats to average 194.0. The Aggies played 65 games over the weekend to total 12,531 pins. Their average for the weekend was 192.8. A&T went 6-7 for the weekend, and they are 51-21 on the season.
SHSU finished in sixth place, followed by YSU and ASU. Third-ranked Vanderbilt won the event after defeating No. 5 Stephen F. Austin in the championship. Fourth-ranked Nebraska finished third, and top-ranked McKendree finished fourth. A&T returns to action in two weeks at the Morgan State James Brown Invitational, Feb. 10-12 in Baltimore, Md.
