Husker Bowlers claim #1 seed after qualifying

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Huskers Roll to No. 1 Seed after Qualifying Rounds

Courtesy: NU Media Relations

Release: 04/08/2010

 

 

Courtesy: Scott Bruhn/NU Media Relations

Valerie Calberry rolled 1,492 pins over seven games (213.14 avg.) on Thursday.

 

North Brunswick, N.J. – The Nebraska bowling team began its fight for a back-to-back NCAA Championship crown on Thursday. The Huskers, who won all seven of their qualifying matches, claimed the No. 1 seed among the eight teams competing at the 2010 NCAA Bowling Championships at Brunswick Zone Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick, N.J.

 

According to NCAA.com, NU rolled what is believed to be the highest single-games score in tournament history by winning its third match on Thursday against Arkansas State, 1,173-953. (Ed note: NU averaged 234.6!!!)

 

Valerie Calberry was the top scorer for the Huskers on Thursday, rolling 1,492 pins in seven games. She also rolled a 280 in Nebraska's victory over Arkansas State. Additionally, Danielle van der Meer came out swinging for the Huskers, rolling a 258 against Vanderbilt.

 

Arkansas State took the No. 2 seed for Friday's double-elimination tournament, while Vanderbilt will be seeded third.

 

The eight teams were seeded in Friday's tournament based on win-loss records in Thursday's round-robin tournament. A double-elimination tournament, which will include four rounds of Baker-style games, is scheduled to begin on Friday, April 9, at 8:30 a.m. Central. The second round will begin at 10:20 a.m., while the third will begin at 4:20 p.m. The championship match will be held on Saturday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m. Central and will be broadcast LIVE on ESPNU.

Cornhuskers Bowling Over Competition

Nebraska, the defending champion, won all seven of its qualifying matches Thursday to easily claim the No. 1 seed

 

By Dan Caldwell

Special to NCAA.com

 

North Brunswick, NJ-- Nebraska, the defending champion, won all seven of its qualifying matches Thursday to easily claim the No. 1 seed among eight teams participating in the three-day NCAA Women's Bowling Championships at the Brunswick Zone Carolier Lanes. The Cornhuskers (68-25), who have won three of six championships since the NCAA started the competition in 2004, rolled what is believed to be the highest single-game score in tournament history by winning its third match Thursday against Arkansas State, 1,173-953.

 

Arkansas State (77-38) won five of seven games to take the second seed for the double-elimination tournament, which is to begin Friday. Vanderbilt (71-28) was third, followed by New Jersey City University (76-44), the host team in the championships.

 

Although Nebraska knocked over 359 more pins than any of the other seven teams in the tournament, the Cornhuskers did not roll over all of its opponents, an indication that a second straight NCAA championship will not be automatic for Nebraska.

 

"I am exhausted," said Valerie Calberry, a sophomore who was Nebraska's top bowler Thursday with 1,492 pins in seven games. "But our team chemistry was amazing. We were just there for each other all day. The people on the team who weren't bowling was just as much into it as we were."

 

This was the most demanding day of the bowling championships. The eight participating schools, each with five bowlers, took part in a round-robin tournament that began at 9:30 a.m. and ended after 7 p.m., with a two-hour break in the afternoon for lane conditioning and practice.

 

By the late afternoon session, the temporary bleachers in the back of the lanes were packed with fans. Timely strikes were met with bursts of cheers and applause. The line for pizza was short; everyone was tuned into the action.

 

"These are the best eight teams in the country, so you're going to see good scoring," said New Jersey City University coach Frank Parisi. "Good players adjust to the oil pattern as the day goes along, so you're going to see high scores."

 

The eight teams were seeded by their won-loss records in the round-robin tournament, with a double-elimination tournament scheduled to begin Friday at 9:30 a.m. The Baker format will be used Friday and Saturday, in which a team's five bowlers rotate frames.

 

The second round of the double-elimination tournament is set for 11:20 a.m., with the third round at 5:20 p.m. The championship match, to be held Saturday at 8:30 p.m., will carried live on ESPNU, with a repeat on ESPN at 3 p.m. Sunday.

 

The Cornhuskers quickly established themselves as frontrunners in the qualifying rounds, comfortably winning its first four matches against Maryland-Eastern Shore, Vanderbilt, Arkansas State and New Jersey City.

 

"We just want to continue to display a calm, workmanlike attitude," Nebraska coach Bill Straub said after the first four matches. "It doesn't matter whether we won or lost the first four games. It's got to be one ball at a time if we want to be successful."

 

Nebraska's Danielle van der Meer, a sophomore from Hilversum, The Netherlands, bowled a 258 against Vanderbilt after a 156 in the match against Maryland-Eastern Shore. Calberry, from Brampton, Ont., rolled a 280 in the Huskers' victory over Arkansas State.

 

The Gothic Knights finished second to Nebraska in the qualifying round-robin last year but did not offer much of a challenge in match play this year, falling to the Cornhuskers, 1,109-939. Nebraska won its fifth game against Fairleigh Dickinson, also of New Jersey, 1,071-1,006.

 

Because New Jersey City had lost its opening match to Central Missouri, and because Arkansas State and Vanderbilt had also lost two of their first five matches, Nebraska secured the top seed in its sixth match by defeating Central Missouri, 975-964.

 

Arkansas State's Samantha Santoro, a sophomore from Reinholds, Pa., bowled a 290 in the team's first match against Delaware State. But Arkansas State lost later to Nebraska, then fell to New Jersey City in its fourth match. Santoro had the best individual pinfall, a 1,547.

 

"It's funny, because I didn't feel that good in practice," Santoro said. "I wasn't hitting my mark very often, but once we got going, I kind of felt good right after the first frame. I always want to bowl well all year, but coming to Nationals, this is where I want to be at my best."

 

 

Round-Robin Format Requires Physical and Mental Endurance

 

April 8, 2010

 

By DAN CALDWELL

Special to NCAA.com

 

NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Seven games, or 70 frames, are a lot in one day - even for bowlers who like the sport and are already conditioned to endure long days at any alley. Not surprisingly, energy levels sagged during the first day of the NCAA Women's Bowling Championship - and so did the scores.

 

Cassandra Leuthold, a Nebraska senior from Black Hawk, S.D., had four games of 206 or better in the first five games of an eight-team qualifying round-robin tournament Thursday. In her last two games, she rolled a 173 and a 160. She still was the fourth-best individual bowler of the day, with a seven-game pinfall of 1,486, but she said she struggled to the finish.

 

"I've been here at Nationals for the past three years," she said Thursday night, "and this is a new format for everyone. It is a really long day which requires endurance, and, unfortunately, I kind of went a little bit downhill in the last two games. I'm dealing with a back injury, and I'm probably borderline hypoglycemic, but regardless I needed a little more energy out there at the end of the day."

 

The eight teams entered get a little break Friday at Brunswick Zone Carolier Lanes, as the tournament moves to double-elimination match play. No team will roll more than four games on Friday. The Baker system, in which each of a school's five bowlers rotate to roll two frames apiece in a 10-frame game, probably will ease the burden.

 

What is to be determined is how heavy a burden Thursday's round-robin will turn out to be. Delaware State rolled a team total of 777 in its last match of a long day, against Nebraska, which earned the No. 1 seed. The Cornhuskers, which won all seven of its matches Thursday, had a team total of 883 in the match, their lowest total of the day by 92 pins.

 

"It's not just physical endurance, because one of the things that I teach is the fundamental aspects of the game, and I think if you're more fundamentally prepared, the better you will perform under pressure," said Justin Kostick, whose Arkansas State team was second to Nebraska in the qualifying round-robin.

 

"I compare it to a Jerry Rice scenario," Kostick said, referring to the retired San Francisco 49ers receiver. "Jerry Rice used to find out someone else's workout and take it one step further. I try to do the same thing with our players. Whatever other teams do, I try to take our team one step further."

 

Arkansas State lost its fifth match of the day to New Jersey City University, the host team, but beat Vanderbilt and Maryland-Eastern Shore in its last two matches to earn the second seed. In the qualifying round at the 2009 NCAA championships in Canton, Mich., Arkansas State finished in last place in pinfall among eight teams.

 

Last year, Arkansas State had to play the top qualifier, Nebraska, in the first round of the double-elimination tournament and lost the best-of-seven match under the Baker system, four games to three. Vanderbilt then eliminated Arkansas State from the tournament, 4-3. As the second seed this year, Arkansas State faces Delaware State in the first round, a more favorable match-up.

 

"I think it sets up everything," Central Missouri coach Ron Holmes, whose team lost to Nebraska in the title match last year but qualified eighth on Thursday, said of facing Nebraska in the first round Friday.

 

"If you can win that first match," Holmes said, "you put yourself in pretty good shape to at least get your feet underneath you. If you can survive that first match, it works well for you. Otherwise, you have to scramble to get to the final."