FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2014

CONTACT:
Gordon Vadakin
Phone (316) 978-7655
Fax (316) 978-6056
email - shocker.bowling@wichita.edu
www.wichita.edu/bowling

Shocker Women Start Season with Back-to-Back Wins

WICHITA, Kan. – Another college tournament meant another tournament win for the Wichita State Shocker ladies, as they picked up the varsity and junior varsity wins at the Sandhills Classic in Lincoln, Neb. over the weekend.

The Lady Shox weren't the only ones to walk away with a victory. WSU JV1 took home the men’s junior varsity title. The varsity men placed third, JV2 placed third and the women’s JV2 placed third, in their respective divisions.

The Sandhills Classic consisted of six traditional team games on Saturday with all teams returning Sunday for 16 baker games. The field was then cut to the top eight varsity teams and four junior varsity teams in each division for bracket-style elimination. Rounds one and two were best two-out-of-three with the championship round being best three-out-of-five.

On the women’s side, the Lady Shox found themselves in second place after the team games were finished. On Sunday, the girls had steady baker sets to earn them the top seed for the bracket. Rounds one and two were fairly quick as the ladies took down Baker University and Mount Mercy University, 2-0 and 2-1, respectively. Shocker women took the long road in the championship match, falling the first two games to Midland University before rallying back to win the next three and the Sandhills Classic title.

In the JV division, the women’s JV1 and JV2 teams qualified first and second for the bracket finals. It took three games for JV1 to get around Newman, while JV2 fell to Mount Mercy 0-2. In the finals, JV1 wasted no time taking home the victory, sweeping Mount Mercy 3-0.

“This was another great competition early in our season where we had a chance to split our teams evenly,” said assistant coach Mark Lewis. “It is always nice to learn something and still win an event. We did some things better this weekend, but this is still the second tournament of our season. We have a lot of quality training to do since our goal is to always improve.”

Despite a very demanding lane condition, the men qualified third for the bracket final. A quick 2-0 win over Mount Mercy advanced them to face Midland University. The men never found the momentum and fell to Midland 0-2 to earn third place.

It was quite a different story with the JV teams. JV2 qualified second while JV1 qualified third, so they bowled each other in the opening match. JV1 took the first game and they tied game two. The last game came down the wire as JV1 won the game and match by three pins. In the championship match, JV1 ousted Midland in five games, winning the title 3-2.

Individually, the Shockers had quite a few outstanding performances. Sophomore Jack Stewart (Park City, Kan.) lead the Wichita men with an impressive 214 average for five games. Senior Francois Lavoie (Québec, Canada) finished 11th with a 200 average over the six games. Sophomore teammate Mitch Hupé (Montreal, Canada) also averaged 200 for his five games.

On the women’s side, Junior Dasha Kovalova (Moscow, Russia) was the tournament MVP and made the All-Tournament, leading the ladies field by averaging 216 for her six games on a very challenging lane pattern. Sophomore Chenoa Rhoades (Lafayette, Ind.) finished with an average of 200 for five games. Senior Brianna Amidon (Pittsfield, Mass.) finished seventh with a 195 average for six games and freshman Line Berg-Almestrand (Hønefoss, Norway) had a six game average of 192.

The Shocker Bowling teams have a weekend off before they head to the Jayhawk Classic in Lawrence, Kan. November 1-2, 2014. This is the last tournament for the developmental teams this season.

For more information about the Shocker Bowling program, please visit www.wichita.edu/bowling.

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The Rhatigan Student Center has been the major financial and administrative supporter of the Wichita State University bowling program since 1959.