No. 7 Tech bowling team earns top five finish

ARLINGTON, Texas – The No. 7 Louisiana Tech women’s bowling team started and finished the weekend strong to earn fifth place at the Prairie View A&M Invitational in Arlington, Texas. ?Tech completed the weekend 8-5 competing against the nation’s top teams. The field included nine other top 20 ranked NCAA programs and six inside the top 10.

“We knew this event this would be a test for us,” Tech head coach Matt Nantais said. “Overall, we had a great weekend. To go 8-5 and finish fifth in this field is an accomplishment. We had some struggles on Saturday and didn’t bowl our best but we had people step up and showed that we have some depth to our team.”

The Techsters got off to a blistering start Friday in their five Baker matches posting a 4-1 record including wins over No. 13 Tulane (1,009- 873), No. 4 North Carolina A&T (1,119-1,082), No. 8 Youngstown State (1,104-1,033), and No. 3 ranked Nebraska (1,049- 990) while falling to No. 15 Fairleigh Dickinson (998-1,040) to finish the day in the tournament’s top spot with a total pin fall of 5,269.?Tech opened Saturday’s traditional match slate falling to No. 19 Sacred Heart (914-1025) before rebounding against No. 2 McKendree (940-924). Top ranked Sam Houston then outlasted LA Tech (1,045-1,078), but the Techsters rebounded yet again to take down host Prairie View A&M (961-868). ?Tech finished their Saturday 2-3 after dropping the final match against No. 6 Arkansas State (973-826). ?In a final qualifying match Sunday morning Tech fell to No. 5 Vanderbilt (1,056- 1,108) to find themselves sitting at sixth in the overall team standings just 31 pins out of the championship bracket with a total pinfall of 11,011.?That set up a rematch against Fairleigh Dickinson in a bestof-seven Baker match.