(WICKLIFFE, Ohio, April 12)—McKendree University saw its hopes for a second NCAA national championship come to an end Friday morning with a loss to Vanderbilt University in the elimination bracket of the 2019 NCAA National Collegiate Bowling Championship in Wickliffe, Ohio.
In a rematch of last year's title contest, McKendree and Vanderbilt went toe-to-toe for three rounds in the mega-match format, with the Commodores scraping past the Bearcats 2-1 in the match. Vanderbilt won the traditional match portion of the match-up before McKendree rebounded with an emphatic victory in the five-game Baker total pin fall portion. The Commodores then swept the Bearcats 4-0 in the best-of-seven Baker battle the decided Friday's winner.
"They have so much fight in them and they never give up," said head coach
Shannon O'Keefe about her team following Friday's match. "They took it down literally to the final shot today, and that's what makes me so proud of them."
On Friday, the teams traded leads in the traditional match. Vanderbilt built a slight lead, but McKendree kept the pressure on thanks to four straight strikes from freshman
Hope Gramly (Prosper, TX/Prosper) from the fifth through eighth frames. Junior
Taylor Bailey (Joliet, IL/Joliet West) also reeled off three strikes in a row from the seventh through ninth frames, but the Commodores were able to hold off the Bearcats' rally to post a 1035-999 win. Bailey led McKendree with a high game of 222, followed by junior
Breanna Clemmer (Clover, SC/Clover) at 211.
Needing a win in the five-game Baker total pin fall match to keep their national championship hopes alive, the Bearcats went right to work. McKendree edged past Vanderbilt by five pins in the opener before reeling off nine straight strikes in game two for a 279-203 triumph that pushed the Bearcats to an 81-pin cushion. McKendree added to its advantage over the final three games, defeating the Commodores 1105-953 to force the winner-take-all, best-of-seven Baker match.
All four games in the final contest were close throughout, with each of the last three coming down to the 10
th frame. Vanderbilt registered a slim 194-191 win in the opener to grab an early lead before taking the next two by scores of 212-193 and 214-191. The Commodores eventually notched another close win in game four, 232-222, to move on in the NCAA Championship.
Four seniors were part of McKendree's NCAA Championship roster:
Lauren Pate (Inver Groves Heights, MN/Simley),
Ashley Hathaway (Lewisville, TX/The Colony),
Ashley Dunn (Palmdale, CA/Quartz Hill) and
Christie Draper (McKinney, TX/McKinney Boyd). O'Keefe is proud of what this group of seniors has meant to the Bearcats' program.
"They are a huge part of building the kind of program that (director of bowling) Bryan (O'Keefe) and I envisioned even before moving into the world of college coaching," said O'Keefe. "It took a special group of ladies to believe in what we were building and envisioning what that program could become. They were in on the early stages of making this program a powerhouse. We're so proud of them and we hope that when they leave here they will always continue to check in on McKendree bowling, be encouraging to the younger ones, and be proud that they were a part of it."
McKendree will return to action one final time in 2018-19 by taking part in the Intercollegiate Team Championship, which begins on Thursday in Dayton, Ohio.
