VALLEY PARK, Mo. --- The Tusculum University women's bowling team opened its 2021 season by splitting its four matches on the first day of the Columbia 300 Saints Invitational on Friday. The three-day, 11-team tournament is being held at the Bowlero Lakeside and hosted by Maryville University – St. Louis. Friday's matches were scored using the Baker 5-Game format.
Tusculum opened the day with a bye match, as Spalding University dropped out of the tournament, but the Pioneers bowled a team tally of 883. TU took on Upper Iowa University in the second match of the day and defeated the Peacocks 801-785.
Tusculum next faced 18th-ranked Maryville as the host Saints defeated the Pioneers 905-839. TU bounced back in the next contest as the Pioneers defeated Quincy University 818-761. The Black & Orange closed out the first day action against Lewis University as the Flyers prevailed, 895-797.
Tusculum is 10th in the team standings finishing the day with 4,138 total pins. The University of Nebraska, who is the fourth-ranked team in the country, leads the tournament with 4,696 pins including a day-one best 1,005 in their final match of the day as the Huskers went a perfect 4-0.
McKendree University, the No. 1 team in the nation, is second in the standings with 4,627 pins. Youngstown State is third with 4,536, followed by Maryville (4519), Lewis (4477), Lincoln Memorial University (4461), Kentucky Wesleyan College (4457), Drury University (4350), Upper Iowa (4307), Tusculum (4138) and Quincy (4074).
This week's tournament field boasts ranked in the NCAA top-25 including four of Tusculum's next six opponents in the tournament.
In Saturday's traditional scoring format, TU will face No. 1 McKendree, No. 4 Nebraska, Kentucky Wesleyan, Drury and No. 10 Youngstown State. Tusculum will also face No. 23 Lincoln Memorial on Sunday morning to close out the traditional scoring round before beginning the Baker-Playoff portion to close out the event.
Live video for all Tusculum matches this weekend in Missouri are available on the team's Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/TusculumBowling
