FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 2014

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

Men and Women Sweep First Tier One of the Season

WICHITA, Kan. – While many college students headed home for Thanksgiving break, the Shocker Bowling teams loaded up in a bus, drove to Fairview Heights, Ill. and swept the National Team Match Games Tournament, hosted by McKendree University.

The tournament began with six traditional team games on Saturday and then 16 baker games on Sunday. Each traditional game/baker four-game block was match play against three other teams within the four lane group. Bonus pins were awarded for each team beaten.

On Saturday, the Lady Shox dominated with three girls making the all-tournament team. Junior Daria Kovalova (Moscow, Russia) averaged 209.5 for the six games to put her in second. Right behind her was sophomore Chenoa Rhoades (Lafayette, Ind.) and senior Brianna Amidon (Pittsfield, Mass.), who averaged 202 and 201, respectively. By winning almost all of the bonus points that were out there, the women had a 200 pin lead after day one.

Day two was pretty much the same thing as the ladies won almost all of the bonus pins during the baker games. When the dust settled, the girls won by 321 pins over Lindenwood University.

Coach Mark Lewis said, “This was a nice event for our women’s team. The tournament used two different conditions and we were a little slow to adjust to them. Hopefully we can use this lesson and continue to improve every day.”

The men had a little bit of a different road. After a steady start, the men turned in up in game three, firing games of 1060, 1120, 1149 and 1008. With their 700 bonus pins, they were in second by 140 pin to tournament host McKendree.

Individually, the men had five bowlers average over 200. Sophomore Mitch Hupé (Winnipeg, Canada) led the way averaging 227 for four games. Justin Zwaschka, a sophomore from St. Joe, Mo., finished 10th averaging 214 for six games. Seniors Francois Lavoie (Québec, Canada) and Matt McNiel (Prior Lake, Minn.) cracked the top 20 with six game averages of 212 and 210, respectively. Junior AJ Chapman (Manchester, Iowa) averaged 201 for five games.

During the baker games, the men really put on a show. After 14 baker games of 200 or more and 750 bonus pins, the men found themselves on top of the standings. The final difference was 375 pins over McKendree University.

“We had a very solid day two of the tournament with very few missed spares and lots of quality first ball shots,” Coach Gordon Vadakin said. “We’re working towards having an entire tournament be played at that level.”

This was the first tier one event for the Shocker Bowling teams. The teams will head to Las Vegas for two more tier ones, the Las Vegas Invitational and the Collegiate Shootout in the middle of December.

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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.