After sweeping its third tournament of the season at the Team Match Games, the Wichita State bowling teams didn鈥檛 fare as well as the men finished second and the women took third at the Leatherneck Classic Dec. 5-6 in Rock Island, Ill.
The second-seeded men fell to top seed Lindenwood University, 3-0. The men attributed their second-place finish to some inconsistent bowling throughout the tournament.
鈥淚t was a struggle to stay matched up with the conditions,鈥� said head coach Gordon Vadakin. 鈥淎t times we bowled well but we weren鈥檛 totally matched up, which always gives you surprising ball reactions.鈥�
Although the Lady Shockers bowled well throughout the tournament and claimed the top seed, Lindenwood also caught the women as they fell in the semifinals in a close 3-2 loss.
鈥淭here are still some things for us to work toward and improve on,鈥� said assistant coach Mark Lewis. 鈥淲e need to be able to continue to stay focused at making good shots in a variety of circumstances. When we get into matchplay, we need to continue to play the way we did during the tournament.鈥�
Junior Jessica Baker averaged 206.2 over six games and led the scoring in the women鈥檚 division to be named the tournament MVP.
The teams will return to action Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 19-20, in the Sam鈥檚 Town Collegiate Shoot Out and then Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 21-22 in the Las Vegas Invitational.