Perfect game not enough for Lady Techsters at tourney
NORTH KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Despite registering a program-record perfect Baker game, the Louisiana Tech's run at the 2021 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship was cut short on Wednesday.
“Coming into today, we were gelling pretty well as a team,” Louisiana Tech head coach Matt Nantais said.
“We had a pretty good practice session and everybody was confident. Then today coming in, they got tight. Getting here in itself is a big accomplishment, but it hurts to lose when you know we didn't give our best effort of the year. One positive is we shot the third-ever perfect game in our Baker match against Sam Houston.”
Louisiana Tech opened the tournament with a 2-0 loss to Youngstown State. Youngstown State won the traditional match, 966-918, to take the early 1-0 lead. Sophomore Danielle Jedlicki led the Lady Techsters individually in the traditional match with a 215.
Louisiana Tech trailed by 55 pins after the first four Baker games 803748. The Lady Techsters won the final Baker game 197-171, but lost the match by 29 pins 974-945, as Youngstown State won the Mega Match 2-0.
The Lady Techsters then took on Sam Houston in an elimination match. Sam Houston won the traditional match 1,160946 to take a 1-0 lead. Senior Kaitlyn Eder led the Lady Techsters individually during the traditional contest with a 222.
Louisiana Tech won the first Baker game 193-179 to take an early lead in the second match.
Sam Houston then trimmed the lead to eight after winning the second game 193-187. Louisiana Tech came out strong in the third game to extend its lead to 56 pins with a 218-170 victory. Sam Houston won the next two Bakers, 194-187 and 196-189, but Louisiana Tech would win the overall match 974-932 to tie the Mega Match up at 1-1.
The teams then competed in a best-of-seven Baker contest. Sam Houston won the first three Baker games, 211168, 225-219 and 213-203.
Then, Eder, senior Ashley Channell, junior Lindsay Manning, junior Emily Rettig and sophomore Allie Leiendecker made history with the first perfect Baker game in program history, as they registered 12 straight strikes to win the fourth game 300-183.
The game marked the third perfect Baker game in NCAA Championship history and was the first since Vanderbilt in 2007.
However, Sam Houston would secure its 2-1 victory following a 179-171 win in the fifth Baker game.
Louisiana Tech will next compete at the USBC Sectionals in Dallas, Texas, from April 16-18.
“Our season's not over,” Nantais said. “We have one more championship to win. We will get back on campus and evaluate this past week and move forward.
“I'm proud of everything that we have done as a team. This will sting for a little bit, but we have to put it behind us and move forward.”