#14 Valparaiso maintained a spot in the top eight of the team standings as the Columbia 300 Music City Classic continued Saturday in Nashville, Tenn.

The Crusaders closed out Saturday’s action with 10,189 total pins, good for eighth place out of the 30 competing teams.  Fairleigh Dickinson tops the team standings with 10,922 pins.

Valpo fell to Louisiana Tech in the day’s first match, contested in the traditional team format, by a final score of 988-890.  The Crusaders rebounded with a win in their second match, defeating #RV Monmouth 932-840, paced by games of 228 from Alyssa Meade (Chesterfield, Mich./L’Anse Creuse North) and 207 from Katherine Sulaitis (St. Charles, Ill./East).

Valpo easily downed Howard in the next contest, 931-775, as three different Crusaders broke 200.  Carly Larson (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville) led the way with a 205, while Sulaitis posted a game of 204 and Marianna Guerrieri (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) rolled a 202.  Despite matching games of 224 in the next match from Alyssa Alvarez (Antioch, Ill./Antioch) and Torrie Decker (Van Wert, Ohio/Van Wert [Robert Morris (Ill.)]), the Crusaders couldn’t make it three straight wins, falling to #3 Maryland Eastern Shore 988-943.

No Valpo bowlers broke 200 in its fifth match of the day, as the Crusaders suffered a 940-890 defeat against #10 St. Francis (Pa.).  The Crusaders closed out Saturday’s action on a high note, led by a 245 from Larson as Valpo took down #3 Fairleigh Dickinson 1052-105.  Alvarez posted a 229 in the finale, while Savannah Carr (Buckeye, Ariz./Youngker) registered a 216 game in the victory.

Valparaiso (59-61) closes out the Music City Classic on Sunday.