#6 Valparaiso kicked off the first day of action at the Music City Classic in Nashville, Tenn. on Friday by going 5-1 and sits in seventh place with two days of competition remaining.

“We had an ordinary day of bowling today,” said Crusader head coach Matt Nantais.  “In our loss to Fairleigh Dickinson, we left a number of open frames in our first two games that could have made it a closer match.  We have a tougher schedule of teams tomorrow and will have to come out ready to bowl.”

The Crusaders tallied 4,454 pins through Friday’s set of six four-game baker matches to sit in seventh place out of the 20 competing teams, just 67 pins outside the top-five.  Central Missouri owns the top spot in the team standings with 4,817 pins.

Valpo started the tournament against UAB, finding itself down eight pins halfway through the match despite kicking it off with a 212 game.  But games of 199 and 212 were enough to close the match with an easy 765-699 win.  The Crusaders also trailed #19 Monmouth through two games, but used a 42-pin edge in game three to secure a 694-651 victory.

The Crusaders improved to 3-0 on the day, next defeating #13 Kutztown 788-692, closing the match with games of 216 and 212 after leading by 11 pins halfway through.  Valpo would then suffer its first defeat against #1 Fairleigh Dickinson, failing to overcome a 41-pin deficit in an 804-731 loss.

Valpo rebounded from the loss with an easy win over Tulane, besting the Green Wave in all four games in a 759-664 win.  The Crusaders then closed the day on a winning note, coming from 13 pins down after one game to down #RV St. Francis (N.Y.) 717-667.

Valparaiso (76-33) returns to the lanes on Saturday for six traditional matches, beginning at 11:30 a.m. CDT.