Bowling Set to Host Allstate Sugar Collegiate Invitational
Oct 16, 2014 | Women's Bowling
KENNER, La. - Tulane's fourth-year bowling program opens the 2014-15 season by hosting the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Bowling Invitational on Friday through Sunday at the AMF All Star Lanes.
The event, in its second year with the Allstate Sugar Bowl as the sponsor, will feature 13 schools from around the nation, including the defending national champions Sam Houston State and three other teams ranked in the preseason top 20.
Last year's Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Bowling Invitational champion, Stephen F. Austin, ranked No. 9 in the country, returns to defend its title. The Lumberjacks held off Sam Houston State last year to claim the title. SHSU comes into the season ranked No. 3 in the nation. Also appearing in the national rankings are Vanderbilt (fourth) and Alabama State (No. 18).
Joining those four ranked schools and the host, Tulane, will be: Alabama A&M, Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, Jackson State, Louisiana Tech, Southern, Texas Southern and UAB.
"For the third straight year we are able to host a great field for this event," fourth-year head coach Hayley Veitch said. "We are very excited to be able to bring some of the top bowling teams in the nation into our city. We know the competition is going to be tough, but this field will be a great gauge to see where our team stands early in the season.
"We are also excited about having Allstate Sugar Bowl sponsor the tournament again this year," Veitch added. "It is never easy to promote bowling but this certainly helps so thank you to them for all the support."
The tournament gets underway Friday at 9:30 a.m. CT with 5x5 Baker games.
In the Baker format, starting members of the competing teams will successively and, in regular order, bowl one frame on one lane. Once five frames are completed, the team members will remain on the same lane and complete the starting member order again, with frames six through 10 being completed. This pattern of play will continue until all 10 frames of a game are completed. No changes can be made in the order of players after the start of a game, except for substitutes, although once a bowler has been pulled from the game they are not allowed to return until the next game.
The teams will then square off on Saturday at 9 a.m. CT with five team games.
In the five-person team game, starting members of the competing teams will successively and, in regular order, bowl one frame on one lane. Once completed, the team members shall move to the alternate lane of the competition pair. This pattern of play continues until all 10 frames of a game are complete. The same substitution rules as Baker will apply.
The tournament concludes Sunday with a tournament at 9 a.m. CT. The tournament, consisting of Best 4-of-7 Baker matches, will determine the champion. The 13 teams will be seeded based on the performance on Friday and Saturday.
Last year the Green Wave finished with a 34-61 overall record with 12 team match wins, 14 Baker match wins and eight bracket match wins.
Veitch and the Green Wave are eager to get the season started.
"The ladies have all been working extremely hard and have bonded well as a team," Veitch said. "I am looking forward to seeing how we perform in our first tournament together, we definitely have the potential to improve our winning percentage this year. I really could not have asked for a better group of ladies for a fourth-year program."
Jessica Stricklin, the lone senior on the Green Wave squad, rolled a 174.2 average in 32 games last season.
Also back are junior Hannah Ryan and Hannah Harrison. Harrison had the second highest average last season with a 176.4 mark in 22 games.
Sophomores Kierstyn Rush, Angela Falgoust and Jessica Quebedeaux also return. Falgoust is the top returning bowler on the roster with a 177.3 average in 27 games.
Veitch added four freshman to the roster this season with Natasha Navejar (Westlake, La.), Michelle Ng (Singapore), Sarah Forton (Macomb, Mich.) and Danyn Terry (Coarsgold, Calif.).
Following the weekend's tournament, Tulane will return to the lanes on Nov. 7-9 for the Valpo Crusader Classic in Merrillville, Ind.
