No. 5 Huskers in third after two days of Destination Florida

Orlando, Fla. - The fifth-ranked Nebraska Bowling team ended day two of the Destination Florida tournament in third place with an 8-2 record, tallying 10,679 pins and a 213.6 average over two days. The Huskers entered the second day of competition in first-place with a 4-1 record.

Nebraska's first opponent of the day was No. 11 Wright State who was in fifth place and undefeated on day one of the tournament. Starting for the Huskers was Desiree Buchert, freshman Alejandra Sandoval in her first starting nod as a Husker, Brenna Hartzler, Karina Capron and Haley Swindle in the anchor to round out the lineup. Later on, Taylor Kretz subbed in for Sandoval to throw the two-spot's final ball of the tenth. The Big Red dominated the match, soundly defeating Wright State 1,052-905. They were led by Hartzler with 253 followed by Buchert with 205. Capron notched 200 while Sandoval and Kretz combined for for the same score, and Swindle added 194.

The day's next matchup pitted NU against Emmanuel, a team with a 0-6 record in the tournament so far and coming off a loss to No. 14 Niagara. Kretz maintained the second spot in the lineup for this game as she led the Huskers in another dominant match to a 1,157-845 with 268 pins. She was followed by Capron with 256, Buchert with 225, Hartzler with 217 and Swindle tacking on 201.

The Huskers played No. 17 Tulane next, a team sitting at 4-3 and having just won against Saint Anselm. The Big Red's lineup remained unchanged to great effect as every player would shoot above 200, led this time by Hartzler's 279. She was complemented by Kretz with 246 and Swindle with 245, then Capron with 223 and Buchert who notched 205. The complete team effort led to the Huskers trouncing the Green Wave, 1,198-934.

Match four saw NU up against the No. 2 Vanderbilt, who was 6-2 and coming off a victory of their own against Emmanuel. In a back and forth game that saw errors from both squads, it was the Commodores who came out on top, 1,027-1,011. The Huskers were led by Hartzler once more with 279, followed by Kretz with 216, Buchert with 185, Swindle with 152 and Capron with 152.

The final match of the day had the Huskers take on No. 20 UAB, a team yet to win a game in the tournament coming off a loss to Tulane. Nebraska elected to swap out Buchert for Abby Starkey in this game. In their lowest-scoring contest of the day, the Huskers pulled off a 940-883 win over the Blazers. They were led by Hartzler with 192, Starkey with 189, Capron and Kretz both with 188 and Swindle with 183.

At the day's end, Hartzler led the Huskers in individual pinfall with 1,220 through five games, averaging 244.0. She was the only Husker in the top-30 of individual bowlers, positioning herself in second place overall. Capron and Swindle were the next on the leaderboard with 1,009 (201.8 average) and 1,002 pins (200.4 average), respectively. Kretz contributed 918 through four games with a 229.5 average, followed by Buchert with 820 in four games with a 205.0 average. Sandoval and Starkey rounded out the Husker contributors with 200 and 189 pins respectively, each in one game.

The Huskers will be back in action tomorrow, Nov. 1, at 7:25 a.m. CT in a sixth traditional match against Saint Anselm. Following that match, seeding for bracket play will be complete and two best four-of-seven Baker matches will decide the tournament's final standings.

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