Huskers' Season Ends in NCAA Semifinals

The Nebraska women's bowling team fell to Vanderbilt 4-1 on Saturday morning in the fifth-round of the NCAA Championships, held at Skore Lanes in Taylor, Mich. The Huskers were one baker series away from ESPN's televised championship baker match. 

The Huskers came out firing, taking the first game against the Commodores, 193-168. After the first game, it was tough for the Huskers to get any sort of momentum on their side. The Commodores took the second and third games, 203-163 and 222-157. 

In the fourth and fifth games, the Huskers seemed poised to strike back in each tightly contested game, but fell to errors at inopportune times. In the fourth game of the match, the Huskers needed a mark in the tenth frame to seal the victory, but a costly chop of the 6 and 10 pin provided Vanderbilt with the victory, 216-212. The fifth game also went down to the wire, and it looked as if the Huskers were going to pull back to 3-2, but again, Vanderbilt was able to string together strikes in one of the highest scoring matches of the day for the victory, 254-245. 

Vanderbilt was able to defeat Nebraska in back-to-back days, ousting them from the NCAA Championships. But the Huskers were not the only top seed to fall in Saturday morning's round five, as No. 1 seed Fairleigh Dickinson fell to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Vanderbilt and UMES will square off for the NCAA Championship on Saturday at 2:40 p.m. central. The event will be televised on ESPN on Sunday, April 17 at 1:30 p.m. central. 

The NCAA Championship's All-Tournament team will be announced after the championship match on Saturday afternoon. Individually, NU's Kayla Johnson (214.1) and Kristi Mickelson (211.5) cracked the top-10 individual averages at No. 6 and 7, respectively. Katie Ann Sopp rounds out the Huskers at 207.9 for twelfth-place, individually. 

Nebraska's tournament recap:
Thursday: 

Round 1: Nebraska def. Kutztown, 987-936

Round 2: Arkansas State def. Nebraska, 1089-1042

Round 3: Nebraska def. Vanderbilt, 1022-999

Round 4: Nebraska def. Fairleigh Dickinson, 1159-1039

Round 5: Fairleigh Dickinson def. Nebraska, 1027-1020

Round 6: Nebraska def. Central Missouri, 955-909

Round 7: Nebraska def. Sam Houston State, 972-939

Friday:

Round 1: (2) Nebraska def. (7) Sam Houston State, 4-1(169-179, 221-195, 226-206, 204-188, 237-211)

Round 2: Nebraska def. Maryland Eastern Shore, 4-2(172-206, 150-209, 216-198, 191-188, 203-193, 210-202)

Round 4: Vanderbilt def. Nebraska, 4-1(175-170, 227-222, 203-177, 172-236, 202-176)

Saturday:

Round 5: Vanderbilt def. Nebraska, 4-1(168-193, 203-163, 222-157, 216-212, 254-245)