Women's Bowling | 10/26/2025 10:43:00 PM
ORLANDO, Fla. – The seventh-ranked North Carolina A&T bowling team completed its 2025-26 season-opening tournament, Destination Orlando at AMF Sky Lanes, in seventh place after three Baker format matches on Sunday, including two during best-of-seven bracket play played in Baker format.
A&T finished the season's opening tournament with an 8-5 record and a total pinfall of 12,643 to average 191.6 over 66 games bowled throughout the weekend. The No. 1 team in the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) poll, the Jacksonville State Gamecocks, won the tournament by going 13-0 and totaling 14,117 pins and averaging 210.7 pins per game. Also, after bracket play, fifth-ranked Wichita State finished second with 13,285 total pins, followed by No. 3 Vanderbilt (13,317), No. 9 Louisiana Tech (13,064), and No. 2 Nebraska (13,487) in the top 5.
The Aggies added 2,160 total pins on Sunday in their three matchups that started with the Aggies facing Wichita State in a Baker format contest. The Shockers defeated the Aggies 1,032-966. A&T entered best-of-seven bracket play against the Tulane Green Wave.
Spearheaded by winning the first two games, the Aggies won the series 4-1. The Aggies opened the best-of-seven with a dominant showing, out-pinning the Green Wave 232-174. After winning Game 2, the Green Wave defeated the Aggies 202-179 in Game 3 before the Aggies closed out Tulane with wins in Games 4 and 5.
Tulane was out-pinned by the Aggies 977-904. The win placed the Aggies as the No. 8 seed in the bracket, leading them to face fifth-seeded Nebraska. The Cornhuskers took down the Aggies in six games, winning the series 4-2.
It was a good start in the series for A&T as the Aggies took Game 1, 217-182. Nebraska evened the series by winning Game 2 before the Aggies took a 2-1 lead in the series by winning Game 3, 210-178. But Nebraska caught fire over the next three games, out-pinning the Aggies 680-569. Over the six-game match, the Cornhuskers out-pinned A&T 1,284-1,183.
Sophomore Victorya White led the Aggies individually at the tournament, placing sixth with a total pinfall of 1,060 to average 212.00 over five traditional games. Sophomore Tiana Cruz placed 42nd out of 168 bowlers, totaling 931 pins for a 186.20 average.
A&T had a 43.9 strike percentage and a 66.8 spare conversion percentage for the tournament. The Aggies made 80.1 percent of their makeable spares and averaged 8.88 pins on first-ball bowled. Freshman Sara Giraldo led the Aggies in strike percentage during traditional team play at 66.7 percent (20-30). White had a 54.0 strike percentage (27-50). In Baker's play, White led the way with a 48.8 strike percentage (40-82). Senior Juliana Sams posted a 46.3 strike percentage (38-82) during Baker format.
The Aggies return to action this weekend when they travel to Houston, Texas, to play in the Kat Klash Tournament hosted by Sam Houston State University, October 31-November 2.
