PHOTO GALLERY

The Saint Vincent women's bowling team swept visiting Pitt-Bradford, 3-0, in the team's home opener at Hillview Lanes in Greensburg.

Both teams struggled at points throughout the night due to a tricky oil pattern, but SVC was victorious in two traditional games and a 5-game Baker set.

In the opening traditional game, Cassie Murcko started with a pair of strikes, ending up the game with four strikes and a 166.  Rachael Heater added three strikes, in frames 5, 6 and 8, but threw a pair of splits in the 9th and 10th frames, ending with a 167.  Dani Koehler got off to a rough start with three splits in her first four frames, but battled back to throw a team-high 168 as SVC won the game 794-649.  SVC's bowlers combined for 9 splits in the opening game.

In game two, Samm Firestone and Heater set the tone early with strikes in the first, and Shelby Noel doubled in the 5th and 6th.  The Panthers held the lead going into the final three frames, until Rachel Harenchar came in as a substitute in the 8th and threw a strike on her first shot of the night.  Koehler followed with a strike, then struck again in the 9th, while Murcko added strikes in the 9th and 10th to lift SVC to a 740-692 victory.  Koehler (171) and Murcko (168) led the way.

The final point of the night was earned through a 5-game, total pin Baker set.  SVC struggled in game one, falling by 27 pins, but came back with a 35-pin victory in game two.  Game three was captured by Bradford by 22 pins, putting the visitors in front by 14 pins after three games.  The Bearcats jumped out to the early lead in game four, but three straight open frames allowed the Panthers to close the gap.  Firestone then spared the ninth and Koehler threw three strikes in the 10th to seal the win for SVC by 29 pins, giving the Bearcats a 15-pin advantage going into the final game.

Bradford won the final game of the night by just two pins, giving SVC a 693-680 win for the five-game total.

Saint Vincent is now 10-6 on the season, and will host Penn State-Behrend on Tuesday night, November 14 at Hillview Lanes.  The match will begin at 7PM.