Bulldogs Finish 7th at Crusader Classic

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. - The women’s bowling team competed in their first NCAA tournament of the season this weekend in Merrillville, Indiana. During the baker portion of the tournament the team went 1-3. In the first match they faced Minnesota State-Mankato and lost a close one 742-725. The team would get their first win on the day against tournament host Valparaiso, winning 742-725. The team would close out the day losing their next two matches to Elmhurst and Nebraska. After day one of the tournament the team was in sixth place. 

Day two consisted of four team games in which the team would go 2-2 on the day. The team started off strong defeating Arkansas State 855-851 in an extremely close match that came down to both teams’ anchor bowlers. In the second match, Adrian would shoot their highest team game of the season so far defeating Wisconsin-Whitewater 969-849. After two great matches the team drew the bye and would have to wait almost an hour until their next match.

“It was a bad time for us to have the bye," said head coach Jody Fetterhoff. "The team was fired up after those two wins and that wait killed our momentum.”

The team would lose their next two matches against Minnesota State-Mankato and Valparaiso. Freshman Chelsea Essenmacher would lead the team, averaging a 193 for the day, shooting the highest individual game of the season with a 241. Junior Nicole Corstange and freshman Emily Gesell also bowled well averaging 173.25 and 172.75. After day two, the team was 3-5 for the tournament and would head into match play seeded sixth.

In the opening match, Adrian would face Wisconsin-Whitewater the fifth-seeded team losing 4.5-.5 (204-170,202-202,207-182, 195-185, 209-194).

“That’s a hard loss when you bowl good games and just come up short like that," said Fetterhoff. "I give a lot of credit to Wisconsin-Whitewater’s anchor bowler, she was clutch in the tenth frame and struck out when her team needed her too.”

The team faced Elmhurst the seventh seed next and would lose 4-3 in another close match (146-202, 182-164, 167-163, 165-179, 176-182, 175-145, 171-199). Adrian would finish seventh overall for the tournament.

“Although we would have liked to finish higher, we were bowling teams all ranked in the top 25." said Fetterhoff. "We went 1-1 with both Valparaiso ranked #11 and Wisconsin-Whitewater ranked #14 and then we beat Arkansas State ranked #6. I think we did pretty well for our first NCAA tournament of the year and look forward to bowling in our next NCAA tournament in Altoona, Pa. hosted by Saint Francis University on Dec. 4-5.”