VALLEY PARK, Mo. --- An upset of the No. 23 team in the country highlighted the opening day of the Columbia 300 Saints Invite for the Tusculum University women's bowling team.
The Pioneers went 2-3 on the day as the Black & Orange faced three nationally-ranked programs to kick off the first tournament of the spring campaign. The three-day event is being held at the Bowlero Lakeside and hosted by Maryville University – St. Louis.
Tusculum face No. 20 Central Missouri and dropped a 912-789 to the Jennies. TU also battled 16th-raned Newman and lost 920-815.
But in the third 5-game Baker match of the day, Tusculum bounced back with a 1,027-996 victory over No. 23 Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Tusculum followed with tight 883-852 loss to Wright State, before closing out the opening day with an 850-695 win over Illinois Wesleyan.
The Pioneers finished the afternoon with a total pinfall of 4,333 and are in eighth place in the tournament standings.
Tusculum (14-27) will be looking to move up the leaderboard on Saturday with five traditional matches and will close out the weekend on Sunday with bracket play.