The Inaugural Bulldog Invitational collegiate bowling tournament was held this past weekend at Cedar Lanes. The invitational was a chance for the Fresno State bowling team to participate in front of a local crowd, something they haven̢۪t been able to do in ten years.

Unfortunately, the Bulldog women and men̢۪s team both fell to UNLV in the quarterfinals.

“They stepped up and had a better game,â€Â Fresno State coach Chris Preble said.

The men̢۪s team went into the quarterfinals, ranked No. 2 in the tournament, with a bye for the first round.

The women̢۪s team, however, had a little bit more of a challenge to qualify. They were down by 100 pins to Arizona State̢۪s B team and ended up bowling one of their best games of the tournament to come back and win by 70 pins, giving them a spot in the quarterfinals.

The women weren̢۪t able to continue that streak, losing to UNLV in the quarterfinal where they bowled in the Baker system. This system is where one player bowls frames 1 and 6. Player two bowls frames 2 and 7, and so on. They play the best of 5. In order to qualify, each member bowled an entire game individually, and those scores were combined for a team total.

The women were down 2 games to 1 where on the tenth frame Jasmine Coleman had to bowl a strike in order to win and force a game five. Coleman ended up sparing and therefore being eliminated from the tournament.

“Go hard or go home,â€Â said Coleman, taking it in stride and chalking it up as a learning experience. “There’s pressure, but you learn to deal with it cause there will bigger games in the future.â€Â

After disposing of the women̢۪s team, UNLV̢۪s next opponent was the men̢۪s team. Coming off a win, UNLV came out and won the first game by 22 pins.

The Bulldog bowlers started the second game fired up and ended up tying it up with an 18 pin victory. The Bulldogs would then drop two more games to the eventual tournament winners, losing for the first time in three tournaments.

“The spare game let us down,â€Â Preble said, “you can’t simulate the pressure in practice.â€Â

Not having bowled in front of a home crowd could have added some pressure to the bowlers.

“It’s a learned thing to bowl in front of your home fans,â€Â Preble said, who felt that some of the bowlers took the loss hard. “Seems they felt like they were letting their community down.â€Â

The Bulldog bowlers will have a chance to redeem their loss in two weeks in Las Vegas where they will compete in two different tournaments.

The men will compete against at least 25 to 30 teams, and the women will compete against at least 15 other womens teams.