LAS VEGAS – The University of Pikeville women's bowling team opened the match-play portion of the 2025 Intercollegiate Team Championships on Thursday evening with a win and a loss.
 
The Bears opened with a 4-3 win over Louisiana Tech University before dropping the second-round contest to Maryville (Tenn.) College 4-0.
 
UPike was led by graduate student Kelsey Cummings, who had 15 strikes over the two matches, and junior Brianna Rogers, who totaled 14 strikes.
 
The Bears await the winner of Friday morning's match between North Carolina A&T and Wisconsin-Whitewater. They'll play that match at 12:45 p.m. Eastern, 9:45 a.m. Pacific on Friday.
 
The ITCs are being played at the South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas.
 
Bears 4, Bulldogs 3: The University of Pikeville exacted a bit of revenge in the opening round of this year's ITCs, beating the team that eliminated it 4-0 in the 2024 ITCs in Louisville.
 
The Bears opened with a 213-135 win over LaTech, taking advantage of five open frames by the Bulldogs. UPike, in comparison, filled all 10 frames, half with strikes. But the Bulldogs responded with a 212-165 win in Game 2, as the Bears left three frames open.
 
UPike posted a 205-166 win in Game 3, as graduate students Vanessa Fuzie and Kristina Catoe had strikes in both of their frames. Again, Louisiana Tech bounced back, this time with a 189-188 win, holding off a rally that saw the Bears get four straight strikes from Rogers, Fuzie, Katarina Hagler and Cummings in frames 6-9.
 
The Bears moved to the cusp of advancing with a 223-180 win in the fifth game. Including the first fill ball, UPike got strikes in five straight frames down the stretch. But Game 6 again went the way of Louisiana Tech, 252-236, despite four straight strikes in frames 4-7.
 
The deciding game went to the Bears 237-198, as they connected with strikes in six of the first seven frames.
 
Fuzie, returning to her native Las Vegas, had strikes on her last 12 throws. Rogers added nine strikes and neither had an open frame in the contest.
 
Saints 4, Bears 0: After rolling 39 strikes and leaving only seven frames open in the win over Louisiana Tech, the Bears managed only 20 strikes and had 10 open frames in the loss to Maryville (Mo.).
 
Maryville won by scores of 232-221, 182-142, 225-199 and 221-177.
 
Cummings was solid as usual, recording seven strikes in her eight frames. Rogers added five while Hagler had four strikes without an open. Catoe added four strikes of her own.