ARLINGTON, Texas – The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs eliminated North Carolina A&T State 2-0 in Mega Match format Saturday morning during the third round of the NCAA Arlington Bowling Tournament Regional inside the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) International Training and Research Center.
Both teams left two frames open through the first 15 frames of the opening traditional match, but the Bulldogs tallied eight strikes in that span to A&T's five.
"We just had a slow start," A&T coach Kim Terrell-Kearney said. "Sadly, that was the story all weekend, and it puts you in a position where you have to win. (La Tech) played well, and we kept it close, but in the end, we weren't able to capitalize."
The Aggies must get off to a good start with sophomore conference player of the year Melanie Katen leading things off because it sets the tone for the rest of the lineup. She did not get her first strike until the fourth frame before rifling off four straight in frames 6-9.
Trailing 611-587 heading into the seventh frame, Katen began with a strike, setting the tone quickly. The following three Aggie bowlers, seniors Cristina Acosta, Pamela Warr and Ericka Quesada, all followed suit with strikes. Junior Lauren Tomaszewski left her seventh frame open, however, and the Bulldogs held to a 721-686 advantage.
In the 10th, La Tech anchor Allie Leiendecker left the door open for the Aggies to capitalize, rolling a spare. A triple would have won the match, but Tomaszewski spared the 10th, giving the Bulldogs the traditional point, 1,014-987, to go up 1-0 in the Mega Match.
Another slow start doomed the Aggies in the Baker total pin match, as A&T bowled a 139 in the first game, leaving five frames open. Meanwhile, La Tech bowled a 244 and took a 105-pin lead. A&T huddled up before the next game began, with the seniors looking to provide some encouragement and leadership as the season hung in the balance.
"After the first game, it was either we give up at this point, or we fight to come back," Quesada said. "We had two really good games after that, really three pretty good games, but it was too much of a difference, and sadly it didn't happen for us. We all made good shots and tried our best."
Not willing to go down without a fight, the Aggies opened up the second game with four straight strikes, beginning with Katen. They bowled nine strikes during Game 2, and Tomaszewski put a bow on it by tripling the 10th. A&T gained 42 pins on the Bulldogs in that game alone.
Katen again started with a strike in Game 3. The Aggies did not hurt themselves in this one, finishing every frame, while LaTech left three open. Leiendecker held the Bulldogs together, however, tripling the 10th while Tomaszewski executed a spare-strike sequence in the 10th. Still, the Aggies gained 20 more pins to pull within 43 heading into Game 4.
A&T had the game close to even halfway through the fourth game, but an open frame followed by five straight strikes, including another triple in the 10th from Leiendecker, gave the Bulldogs a 16-pin advantage.
The Aggies ran out of gas in the fifth and final leg of the Baker match, leaving a pair of pins open in the third and fifth. La Tech tripled four through six to clinch the win. Katen, Acosta and Warr all ended their season with strikes on 6-8.
La. Tech advances to face Stephen F. Austin for a Final Four berth.
"This is a different group than I've had in years past," Terrell-Kearney said. "We were as ready for this postseason as any team I've ever brought to the postseason. They just fight. You know, what's best about this group is that they just love to bowl, which makes my job so easy because they want to play and get better, and so every day, they push me to be better and give them all that I have. I couldn't ask for a better group to work with each and every day."