No. 5 Tech takes runner-up spot at Techsters Classic
DALLAS — No. 5 Louisiana Tech took home the tournament runner-up after pushing Arkansas State to seven games in the Lady Techsters Classic at USA Bowl in Dallas Sunday.
Tech completed the weekend 6-4 in qualifying matches to put themselves in a great spot heading into Sunday’s bracket play as the tournament’s overall No. 3 seed.
The Techsters got off to another great start during Friday’s Baker matches, posting a 3-1 record including wins over No. 2 Sam Houston State (966-932), Grambling State (933-679), and No. 15 Tulane (1010-964), while posting a 987 in the bye before falling to No. 8 Stephen F. Austin (1,032-1,041) to finish the day in the tournament’s top spot with a total pin fall of 4,928.
Tech opened Saturday’s traditional match slate with a win over No. 17 LIU (953-822) behind Patricia Rosales’ opening round tournament-high of 245. The Techsters then fell to No. 7 Arkansas State (864-941) but rebounded over No. 21 Lincoln Memorial (966-904) with Allie Leiendecker leading the way posting a team-high 214 to remain in the tourna ment’s No. 1 spot.
Tech dropped their last two matches of the day to No. 4 Vanderbilt (850-871) and No. 25 Central Missouri (892-916) but finished the day in the third overall position heading into Sunday’s final qualifying match against Prairie View A&M who Tech handled (975-825) to secure a spot in the top four and a chance at the tournament title.
Tech got a shot at revenge with SFA in the semifinal match and after taking a 3-1 lead (214-181, 215-181, 242-161, 200-226) in the Baker best-of-seven, Tech exacted that revenge with three straight strikes in the tenth frame to take the series 4-1 with a 189-177 win.
That set up a showdown versus Arkansas State who took care of Sam Houston on the other side of the bracket. In game one, down more than 40 pins, Tech strung together five straight strikes to complete the comeback for a 1-0 lead (208-202).
Arkansas State evened the series at 1-1 (215-225) followed by Tech regaining the lead 2-1 after a 247-237 win. It came down to a simple best-of-three series after Arkansas State took game four to knot the championship series at 2-2 (192-219).
