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YSU bowling riding high
STRUTHERS
For a first-year program and a team composed of six freshmen and two sophomores, merely being competitive would be a step in the right direction.
Being nationally ranked, as both head coach Chelsea Gilliam and freshman Nikki Mendez put it, “is amazing.”
“It’s been my goal all year from the very beginning to be ranked as a first-year program,” Gilliam said Tuesday at Holiday Bowl. “There’s so many established teams that to break out and have that was amazing. When it finally happened it felt great.”
The Penguins are ranked 24th in the National Tenpin Coaches Association Poll after their performance at the Kutztown Invitational in Reading, Pa. YSU finished 11th out of 26 teams that featured 17 nationally ranked teams, not including the newly-ranked Penguins.
“We were really good on spares and we communicated with each other very well,” Mendez said. “We want to work on competing as best we can with the top-ranked teams to show that we deserved to be ranked.”
The team imagined achieving this ranking was possible at the beginning of the season, especially with strong showings at their first two meets when they finished sixth in both events. But the news was still a welcomed shock.
“I didn’t know about the news until after practice,” Mendez said. “We thought we could do it. We knew we had the ability. We just had to fulfill it and then we did and we’re very happy about that.”
What’s even more satisfying to Gilliam is that the poll is voted on by coaches, meaning those who really know the sport are crediting her young team with their strong play this season.
“They’re seeing that we’re working hard and being competitive with them,” Gilliam said. “The team works so hard coming here every day and putting in the work. In strength and conditioning they work hard as well. They want it as bad as I do which is what we need.”
Perhaps what’s been most surprising in terms of YSU’s success is that it’s not one or two bowlers carrying the team. The team has been especially strong in Baker games, where each bowler throws only two frames. So communication and adjustments are a must throughout the squad.
“When we get to Baker’s in tournaments we do really well,” Gilliam said. “We work together as a team really well. When you have so many freshmen you don’t know if you’re going to have that chemistry, so the fact that they’re able to communicate and play off of each other is amazing.”
The team is now preparing for another high-level tournament this weekend as the Penguins head back to Houston for the second time this year to participate in a three-day event that Stephen F. Austin is hosting.
Against bigger and more traditional programs YSU is now competing with, Mendez said she still likes to think of her team as the pesky longshot team causing problems as the new program in town.
“I think we still think of each other as the underdogs. I mean I still do,” Mendez said. “But I still think we can compete with them. It’s a different feeling.”