Las Vegas, NV. - The Webber International Men's and Women's bowling team began their week-long trip out west this week competing in the Glenn Carlson Invitational in Las Vegas, NV. The Warriors continued their impressive start to the 2023 campaign with the men's team earning their fifth top five finish and the women's third top two finish of the season. The men's and women's teams both qualified for the single elimination best of five baker tournaments on day two, the women's team would drop their first match in the quarterfinal round and the men's team would advance all the way to the finals before falling to earn a second-place finish in the tournament.

The Warrior women had a strong showing to open up their week out west led by senior bowlers Jaqueline Witura and Linda Himes who both earned all-tournament team honors for the second and third time this season, respectively. Witura would finish second overall in qualifying, with a game nine high of 247 and an overall total of 1991 total pins dropped. Himes would finish right behind Witura in third place overall with a game one high of 246 and 1981 total pins dropped throughout qualifying. Aliyah Alleyne was another key part of the Warriors success in this invitational earning herself an 11^th place finish overall with a game nine high of 247 and an average of 201 per game throughout the qualifying round. The late game success of Witura and Alleyne helped push the Warriors firmly into second place in qualifying with an overall total of 9,124 pins, finishing just behind Wichita State who totaled 9,178 pins through qualifying.

The Warrior women would go into the baker single elimination tournament with the second seed, set to face off against Spring Arbor who finished in seventh in qualifying. The match would come down to the last game, with Spring Arbor taking games one and three and the Warriors claiming games two and four, game five would determine who advanced to the semi-finals. The Warriors would take it down to the wire and game five but fall just short losing the deciding game 188-182 in dramatic fashion to wrap up their tournament.

The Warrior men, who also had a very successful start to their time in Las Vegas, would start off qualifying on fire opening up an early lead after three games with a team one set of 1,010 total pins and a game three high set of the day of 1,146 total pins. Brett Lloyd was at the helm of the ship for the Warriors, leading them with a top 35 finish and a game five high of 270. Llyod dropped 1,725 total pins during qualifying and averaged a team high 215 pins per game. Charles Bostic would follow closely behind earning a top 70 finish with a game three high of 243 to help bolster the Warriors position in the top five. The Warriors would round out qualifying after a cooler finish on day two in fourth place with a total pin count of 9,164, trailing just behing the third-place finisher Wichita State by seven pins.

The men would begin the single elimination baker tournament facing off against the number 13 seed Purdue. The Warriors would waste no time in taking care of business in the opening round and defeated Purdue, in three games to advance to the quarterfinal round. The Warriors continued their hot steak taking three straight games from twelfth seeded Davenport to move on to the semi-final round against Hastings. Hasting, who came into the tournament as the 16^th seed would prove to be more challenging for the Warriors, as they would take game one 235-200. The Warriors would bounce back and claim games two and three to set up the chance to advance to the finals in game four, but Hastings would prove to be more difficult than expected and they would take game four to force a winner take all game five. With the Warriors backs pressed against the wall, they would push through the adversity and take down Hastings in game five 224-191 to earn their spot in the final round against Wichita State. Wichita came into the final round off a clean sweep in the semi-final round and they continued that momentum to take the first three games from the Warriors to claim the tournament trophy and giving the Warriors a runner-up finish after a hard-fought tournament.

The Warriors will immediately jump right back into action in Las Vegas, starting their competition in the USBC Collegiate Shoutout on December 20^th – December 21^st.

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