William Penn Claims Runner-Up Status at NAIA Invitational
The Statesmen women’s bowling team recorded a pair of upsets in bracket competition to reach the finals, but fell just shy of the title as it competed at the NAIA Invitational last Saturday and Sunday.
In the regular-season event that featured only NAIA squads, William Penn placed fifth out of 13 teams with 8,123 pins in five regular games and 20 Baker games. Pikeville (Ky.) topped qualifying with 9,239 pins.
The underdog Statesmen then went to work in match play, taking down #4 seed Midway (Ky.) 3-1 before pulling off the upset of the tournament with 3-2 victory of top-seeded Pikeville to advance to the championship matchup. Unfortunately, the navy and gold could not slay another behemoth as it fell 3-1 to #3 seed Saint Xavier (Ill.) for the crown.
Kelsey Cummings of Pikeville (Ky.) topped qualifying (112 players) with a 237.2 average (1,186 pins).
Caitlin Radliff (Jr., Belleville, Ill., Software Engineering) narrowly missed another all-tournament honor, finishing sixth with a 212.0 average that including three games over 200. She was the only WPU bowler to compete in all five rounds.
Gabi Evans (Sr., West Liberty, Iowa, Psychology and Sociology) was next at 186.0 in four games, while Cydnee Whiteleather (Sr., Lehigh Acres, Fla., Elementary Education) was close behind at 180.8, also in four rounds. Sammantha Meyers (Jr., Rockford, Ill., Elementary Education) also started four times and posted a 170.5 average in that stretch.
Madison Ross (Sr., Charles City, Iowa, Exercise Science) tallied a 174.3 mark (three games), while the duo of Olivia Pilcher (So., Ottumwa, Iowa, Exercise Science) (170.5) and Kelcey Aczon (So., Las Vegas, Nev., Nursing) (153.0) both owned two starts.
Christy Mottier (Sr., Madison, Wis., Business Management) wrapped up William Penn’s scoring with 193 pins in her only game.
Next Up: William Penn takes a week off before traveling to Addison, Ill. on December 2-3 to compete in the Warhawk Open.
