FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. — The Jennies Bowling team moved up the standings on the second day of the McKendree Bearcat Classic, finishing 4-1 in Saturday's team matches to climb into fourth place overall heading into Bracket Sunday. Across two days of pool play on Nov. 14-15, Central Missouri posted a 6-3 overall record, including a 2-2 Baker performance and a bye round on Friday.
UCM opened the tournament on Friday, Nov. 14, with a steady day in Baker play. The Jennies earned wins over Indianapolis, 1,059-915, and Alabama A&M, 948-871, while dropping narrow matchups to No. 20 Wright State, 938-904, and No. 11 Sacred Heart, 934-879.
On Saturday, Nov. 15, the Jennies found another gear and averaged 193.6 as a team, the third-highest block of the field. UCM rolled through its first four matches with wins over No. 10 Maryville (993-925), No. 13 Wisconsin-Whitewater (1,022-974), Southern University (919-830) and Western Illinois (1,016-879) before falling to No. 21 Valparaiso, 999-890, in the final match of the day.
Three Jennies finished inside the top 12 individually. Sydney Lee led the group in sixth with a 204.0 average, followed by Camryn Cramer in seventh at 203.4 and Cynthia Phillips in 12th at 197.4. Julia Speich also added a strong 26th-place performance with a 188.6 average.
Head coach Ron Holmes credited his team's poise and execution throughout the weekend. "The ladies did a really nice job staying with our lane strategies today and led much of Saturday's team competition until the last match of the day," Holmes said. "In addition to performances near the top of the leaderboard, senior Emma Hawley and freshman Myranda Rogers stepped into the lineup at key times to help keep things rolling along. We are still learning about our strengths as a team and everyone contributed to our success. I'm really proud of the group and looking forward to seeing how they work through the challenges of Bracket Sunday."
As the No. 4 seed, Central Missouri will open Bracket Sunday against No. 3 seed Maryville with an opportunity to secure another top-tier finish.
