Bowling | 4/4/2025 10:12:15 PM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The North Carolina A&T State University women’s bowling team split their matches in the first round of the National Collegiate Bowling Championship Rochester Regional on Friday, April 4. No. 8 N.C. A&T won their first contest against No. 11 Louisiana Tech 2-1 in the mega match format before falling 2-1 to the third seeded Penguins of No. 4 Youngstown State University in the afternoon session.
REGIONAL BRACKET
North Carolina A&T will take on the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech for a second time, tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. in the elimination game. The winner will go on to face Youngstown State for the regional crown.
MATCH 1 – North Carolina A&T State 2 – Louisiana Tech 1
The action began with the teams going head-to-head in traditional format where five bowlers bowl a complete ten frames each with their scores combining towards one team score. The Aggies won the traditional format 998-975 behind a 223 score from MEAC Rookie of the Year Victorya White and 222 pins each from Grace Stull and Laura Garcia.
White registered seven strikes in the game with two spares and one frame left open on a split. After opening the game on a spare, Stull put four strikes on the board in frames two to five. She sandwiched a par of strikes between two spares in the sixth and ninth frames. Garcia opened the game with a turkey, three consecutive strikes, before recording a spare in the fourth frame. She added three more strikes along with a spare before closing out the tenth frame with another turkey.
Chloe Newberry tallied a 176 score with five strikes, two spares and three open frames, while Maya Avilez collected 155 pins with six spares and one strike and three open frames.
The teams moved into the baker format next where five bowlers from the teams bowl two frames each contributing to the total team score after five games.
Momentum shifted in favor of Louisiana Tech who was closing on North Carolina A&T in the traditional round. The Bulldogs won the first 206-177 to lead by 29 pins behind six strikes and four spares while N.C. A&T posted just one strike with eight spares.
The Bulldogs extended their lead in the second game to 53 pins after posting a 204-180 score. The aggies kept the Bulldogs advantage nearly equal in the third game surrendering four pins after a 216-212 round on the lanes. Louisiana Tech won by 36 pins, 248-212, in the fourth game and closed out the baker total pinfall giving up 10 pins to the Aggies who won game five 236-226.
With the match score tied at 1-1, the teams entered the baker best of seven format.
N.C. A&T used seven strikes and three spares to assist in their 226-193 win in the first game going up 1-0. La. Tech responded with a 226-212 win behind eight strikes including a turkey in the tenth frame to even the score at 1-1.
The Aggies took a 3-1 lead picking up 237-217 and 235-194 wins in games three and four before the Bulldogs closed the game in game five with a 201-163 win.
Game six was neck-and-neck throughout the match with the decision coming down to the final frame. The Aggies opened the sixth game with back-to-back spares while the Bulldogs put up two strikes. N.C. A&T bowled a turkey in frames three to five while La. Tech left the third frame open followed by a spare before throwing five consecutive strikes down the lane. A pair of spares in the sixth and ninth frames sandwiched two strikes for the Aggies before Chloe Newberry closed the match with a turkey putting the final score at 237-222.
MATCH 2 – Youngstown State 2 – North Carolina A&T State 1
Following a long, arduous match against Louisiana Tech, North Carolina A&T turned around to face the regions top seed in Youngstown State.
The teams started off going head-to-head in the traditional format with the Aggies narrowly holding on for the 1,028-1,018 win. Newberry led the team with a 237 including seven strikes, while White was close behind with a 222-score courtesy of six strikes. Stull finished with 206, Garcia 186 and Avilez with 177.
N.C. A&T again struggled in the baker round not finding the consistency needed to hold out for the win. The Penguins evened the match score at one all following a 1,056-958 victory in the baker total pinfall round.
Games one and three were very close games with YSU winning by four, 217-213, and nine pins, 225-216, respectively. Youngstown State win game two by 34 pins, 202-168, and game four by 14 pins, 217-203, heading into the final game. With a 61-pin deficit to overcome, the pins did not fall in the Aggies favor as the Penguins won game five 195-158 putting their total at 1,056-958.
Youngstown State continued to roll as the Penguins started off the baker best of seven round with a 231-169 win. YSU used seven strikes and three spares to their advantage while the Aggies four strikes were negated by three open frames.
N.C. A&T evened the score at one game each with a one-pin victory, 186-185, in game two. Newberry’s turkey in the tenth frame secured the win for the Aggies.
Game three went to Youngstown, 246-210, before North Carolina A&T won game four 218-179. With three games remaining, the Penguins dug in and won the next two games, 237-176 and 198-186, to advance on in the winners bracket and forcing the Aggies to square off against the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech for the second time in two days.