St Francis Red Flash Bowling Team Capped off a Strong Weekend Earning a Fourth-Place Finish Out of 32 of the Best Teams in the Nation.
The Red Flash gathered two wins against the host team, Vanderbilt, and Lincoln Memorial to put itself in a match against 3rd ranked Arkansas State in a battle for third and fourth place. The Red Flash fell short to the Red Wolves, but that takes nothing away from their outstanding performance this weekend. The fourth place finish is the highest finish of any Red Flash team in program history at the Music City Classic.
Kyra Udziela (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) led the Red Flash team on the weekend with a 20.02 baker frame average.
Haley Carroll (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) and
Sarah Littleton (Round Lake Beach, Ill./Grayslake North) followed with a 19.22 and 18.77 frame average respectively.
Emma Wrenn (Arlington Heights, ILL. /John Hersey )Â also chipped in with a 18.64 frame average.Â
Match 1
SFU 4 - (197-149-190-153-197-166-245)
Vanderbilt 3 - (177-169-157-194-201-159-222)
The first part of this match came down to who was on the right-hand lane. The first four games were all won on the right hand lane. The Commodores then took a three-games to two advantage by finally winning on the left hand lane 201-197. With their backs against the wall and the Red Flash moving to the left lane for game six, they were able to eek out game 6, 166-159. Vanderbilt chose to stay on the right-hand lane for game 7 and then a shootout occurred with both teams striking early through frames 5. The host team caught a couple bad frames and the Red Flash took advantage striking off the sheet for a 245 to 222 victory to win match one.
Match 2
SFU 3.5 (157-180-211-189-201-193-182)
LMU 3.5 (173-180-157-180-163-210-191)
5 Frame Tie-BreakerÂ
SFU - 106
LMU- Â 86
This match was a back-and-forth roller coaster of G-Force proportions. Each team stepped up as the other left a slight opening. Game 2 tied it exactly 180 for each team. After 7 games, each team was tied 3 and 1/2 games apiece, forcing a five-frame tie breaker Baker situation. The execution of the Red Flash lineup set up
Haley Carroll (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) for a tenth frame situation. Carroll stepped up and threw a double sealing a hard-fought victory against the Railsplitters.
Match 3
SFU 1 (171-194-193-171-154)
Arkansas State 4 (165-235-268-189-185)
After securing a game 1 win, the Red Flash were not able to overcome the scoring pace of the Red Wolves who went on to defeat SFU four games to one. The Red Flash earned a impressive fourth-place finish as a result of this match.
"I could not be more proud of the way this team performed this weekend. To step up on Sunday the the way they did was an important step for this team. We now have to take this momentum and mindset into our Northeast Conference Championship next weekend," said head coach
Tom Falbo.
Red Flash junior,
Sarah Littleton (Round Lake Beach, Ill./Grayslake North) earned tournament MVP honors at the Music City Classic this weekend. In a field of 32 of the best teams in the nation, Littleton averaged 229, surpassing the next closest competitor by 13 pins and average.
"Seeing Sarah at her best is always impressive but it wasn't what stood out most to me. It was how responsive she was to contribute to this team and help her teammates take their games to a higher level. Congratulations to Sarah on this special honor."
The Red Flash will have only a few days off until they head to Howell, New Jersey to compete in the three-day Northeast Conference Championship being held on March 23-25 at Howell Lanes, Howell, NJ.
