ARLINGTON, Texas (1/26/25) – The fifth-ranked Arkansas State women’s bowling team wrapped up play at the Prairie View Invitational in eighth place among 12 teams.

A-State (56-22) topped No. 14 Duquesne 986-948 in the final traditional match to begin the day, but was swept by No. 4 Youngstown State and No. 9 Maryville in Baker best-of-seven bracket play. Karli VanDuinen led the Red Wolves against Duquesne with a game of 256 while Melanie Straub downed 207 pins.

Kaylee Back finished the six traditional games with a team-high 1,355 pins for an average of 225.83 to rank eighth in the field. With 256 pins Sunday, VanDuinen moved up to ninth with 1,347 total pins for an average of 224.50. Maggie Thoma ranked 26th with 1,246 pins (207.67) and Saralyne Nassberg had 1,237 pins (206.17) to rank 28th.

Beginning bracket play against Youngstown State, the Red Wolves were dealt a narrow 237-235 defeat in game one. A-State was unable to recover dropping the match in four games with setbacks of 225-157, 205-165 and 236-203. In the finale, Maryville opened with a seven-pin margin, 223-216 and built a 3-0 lead with tallies of 257-175 and 269-179 over A-State. The Red Wolves showed fight but fell in game four 215-212 as Maryville picked up the sweep.  

A-State hosts the annual Mid-Winter Invitational Feb. 14-16 at Hijinx Family Entertainment Center in Jonesboro.

Prairie View Invitational
Baker Matches
#5 Arkansas State 204-185-211-207-225=1,032
#1 Vanderbilt 206-210-172-201-202=991

#5 Arkansas State 210-258-227-222-214=1,131
Prairie View A&M 203-168-189-191-185=936

#5 Arkansas State 186-188-216-215-221=1,026
#3 Nebraska 201-214-184-200-217=1,016

Traditional Matches
#5 Arkansas State 1,090
#8 Sam Houston 1,153

#5 Arkansas State 1,080
#9 Maryville 1,065

#5 Arkansas State 1,066
#10 North Carolina A&T 1,141

#5 Arkansas State 1,085
#2 Jacksonville State 1,098

#5 Arkansas State 1,116
#4 Youngstown State 957

#5 Arkansas State 986
#14 Duquesne 948

Individual Rankings
8 Kaylee Back 258-243-218-221-222-193=1,355
9 Karli VanDuinen 195-189-225-258-224-256=1,347
26 Maggie Thoma 241-244-182-155-267-157=1,246
28 Saralyne Nassberg 201-212-227-234-190-173=12,37
41 Amanda Lang 195-192-214-217-213-X=1,031 (206.2)
70 Melanie Straub X-X-X-X-X-207=207

Bracket Matches
#5 Arkansas State 0 (235-157-165-203)
#4 Youngstown State 4 (237-225-205-236)

#5 Arkansas State 0 (216-175-179-212)
#9 Maryville 4 (223-257-269-215)