Big Red in Fourth Place at Prairie View A&M Invite After Two Days

Arlington, Texas - The Nebraska bowling team has secured the fourth-place seed at the Prairie View A&M Invite after a 2-3 day, bringing their overall tournament record to 4-6 despite a 10,174 total pinfall. Kayla Verstraete led the Big Red with 1,193 pins on the afternoon, the highest total for an individual bowler on Saturday. 

In the first of five traditional matches, the Huskers met No. 3 Youngstown State. NU fell in the opening match despite strong showings from Verstraete (247) and Brenna Hartzler (206). Alexis Buchert rolled a 179, Jillian Martin shot a 172, while Lani Breedlove rounded out Nebraska with a 141 as the Penguins took down the Huskers, 945-994.

With a 2-4 overall record, NU got its biggest win of the tournament as the Huskers took on No. 2 Vanderbilt. All five ladies finished over the 200-pin mark with Hartzler (270) and Martin (269) setting personal tournament highs against the Commodores. Alexis (245) and Desiree (205) Buchert each provided strong numbers for the Huskers, while Verstraete continued her strong performance with 211 for the Big Red. Nebraska grabbed a convincing 1200-929 win over Vanderbilt for its third victory of the tournament.

The Huskers then faced No. 6 Arkansas State in the third match of the day. Verstraete once again led the way with 235 pins, as her and Hartzler (201) recorded their third straight 200-pin game. Martin (198), A. Buchert (180), and D. Buchert (152) joined the other two despite Nebraska falling short to the Red Wolves, 966-1104.

Nebraska then turned its attention to the host school, Prairie View A&M, for the fourth match of the afternoon. Verstraete was dominant against the Panthers, rolling a 264 to pace the Big Red in scoring. Breedlove re-entered the starting lineup and shot her best score of the day, 239, while Martin (206) and Hartzler (202) followed closely behind. A. Buchert spun a 185 to round out NU as the team gathered its fourth win of the tournament with a 1096-919 victory over Prairie View A&M.

NU finished the day against top-ranked Jacksonville State, its toughest test of the tournament thus far. Breedlove led at 245, followed by Verstraete (236) who edged Martin (235) by one pin at the top for the Huskers. A. Buchert (193) and Hartzler (177) rounded out the Big Red lineup as the Huskers were narrowly defeated by the Gamecocks, 1086-1095.

The Huskers will continue tournament play on Sunday at 8:25 a.m. (CT) with one final traditional match before competing in two matches of best 4-of-7 baker games for final placements and awards.   

Stay up to date with the action by following the Nebraska Women's Bowling Twitter (@HuskerBowling), Instagram, and Facebook. Additionally, all matches will be broadcasted exclusively on BOWL.com (subscription to bowltv required).

Individual Husker Performances:

Kayla Verstraete - 1,193 (238.6 avg) - 1st

Jillian Martin - 1,080 (216.0 avg) - 6th

Brenna Hartzler - 1,056 (211.2 avg) - 12th

Alexis Buchert - 982 (196.4 avg) - 27th