The SVC women's bowling team battled to the wire but fell to Mount Aloysius in a seventh and deciding game of a lengthy match in the first round of the AMCC Championships.
In the first segment of the "mega-match" format, the Bearcats trailed much of the way in a closely contested match. Mount Aloysius led by as many as 30 pins early, but the Bearcats closed the gap to just 10 heading to the final three frames. The Mounties continued to hold a slight edge going to the 10th frame, but SVC finished strong.
Meghan Christman struck in the 9th frame and added a strike in the 10th to give SVC its first lead of the game, and the Bearcats held on for a 940-927 victory to take the first point of the night. Christman led the way with a 215 game, while
Mercedes Belch finished with a 204.
Morgan Barlock shot a 178.
Up next was a five-game total pin Baker set. SVC sophomore anchor
Dani Koehler converted all three strikes in the 10th frame of the first game to lift the team to a come-from-behind 160-158 win. SVC trailed by as many as 25 pins late in the game. However, Mount Aloysius started game two with six consecutive strikes and pulled away to a 100-pin victory, 234-134, and the Bearcats were unable to make up ground in the final three games, tying the match at one point each.
The series then went to a deciding third point, a best-of-7 Baker set. Once again, SVC trailed throughout much of game one, and it came down to the final two frames. Christman struck in the 9th frame, and Koehler stepped up needing to strike on the first two shots in the 10th. She came through with three consecutive strikes to give SVC a 1-0 lead with a 180-177 win.
In game two, the Mounties returned the favor with a 176-155 win, but game three once again came down to Koehler in the 10th. With the Bearcat trailing, Koehler needed to strike on the first two shots for SVC to have a chance, and she hit both strikes. On the final shot, she needed 9 pins to tie and a strike to win the game, and she struck to lift SVC to a 174-173 win and a 2-1 edge in the series.
The fourth game was once again close, but the Mounties held on for a 176-170 win, tying the match at 2-2. In game five, SVC got three straight strikes from
Morgan Barlock,
Abby Kyle and
Jessica Guesman to take the lead going to the 9th frame. After Christman spared in the 9th frame, Koehler once again threw three strikes in the 10th as SVC won 203-185, taking a 3-2 lead.
The Bearcats needed just one more win to capture the victory, but the team was unable to close the deal. Mount Aloysius won the final two games of the series to win the mega-match, 4-3 and advance in the winner's bracket on Saturday.
Koehler led the team in the Baker games with a per frame average of 19.18 (191.8 game equivalent).
Lexi Cobbin finished with an 18.3, while
Abby Kyle also had a strong showing with a Baker average of 18.06. Guesman averaged 17.25.
Saint Vincent falls into the losers bracket of the double-elimination tournament and will face Pitt-Bradford at 10AM on Saturday morning (March 23) in an elimination match. Mount Aloysius will face Medaille, a 2-0 winner over Pitt-Bradford in the other first round match.
With the loss, SVC is now 38-13 on the season.
