March 17, 2018
The news ticker says Vanderbilt finished fifth in qualifying despite winning nine of its 10 matches over two days at the Columbia 300 Music City Classic. It reports that the Commodores will play St. Francis University Sunday at 8:25 a.m. with hopes of climbing to third in the final standings if they can muster three victories.
The ticker also says McKendree, Arkansas State, surprising Lincoln Memorial and Sam Houston State were the top four and one of them will win the tournament.
But the ticker doesn’t carry all the news. There are hundreds of invisible wins and losses inside a collegiate bowling tournament. There is more to bowling than rolling a ball down the lane in hopes of knocking down wooden blocks.
For Vanderbilt senior Katie Stark, this tournament marks the end of the line for regular season competition. She had plenty on her mind.
“I hurt my hip earlier this week and I was basically trying to focus on throwing a good shot and not the pain,” the Orlando lefty said afterwards. “Today I was just trying to get the ball to a spot. I was trying to stay aggressive and keep my feet slow and something good would happen.
“About my enthusiasm…it’s just instinctive, a natural thing. I know when we need a spark and the thought is to throw a quality shot, whether it strikes or not because that helps everyone else. I like being able to give my team the emotional boost when it’s needed.”
There is more to bowling than rolling a ball down the lane in hopes of knocking down wooden blocks.
For Kelsey Abrahamsen, a lightly bowled freshman from Seattle, this tournament marks opportunity. She was subbed into the rotation early in the day and quickly found herself in the midst of high pressure a trio of times. She led the rally to down Sacred Heart, closing with six strikes in succession.
“It was really exciting,” she admitted. “I haven’t been able to finish out a game before; I have been making some adjustments to my game and I’ve been shaky on my confidence. Going through those shots, I was just taking them one at a time and had three things I was focusing on.”
Her 7-10 split in the 10th dimmed chances to overtake McKendree. Here is the rest of the story.
“I was just focusing on things I could control. I can’t control what they are doing. My job is to make sure that I walk up confidently and do the best I can. While I didn’t get what I wanted (the tough split) it was still a good shot and the only thing left was to get another pin and move on.”
Kelsey likes the responsibility.
“I’ve always been able to separate the pressure from the shot. I feel anxiety before but the moment I step up the task at hand is to execute and control what I can control. That goes back to years of coaching and playing against guys who average 30 pins higher than me. Bowling in pressure situations is something I like although in college I haven’t had a chance to do that too much. As I get more experience I want to prove to myself and to others that I can fulfill those needs when necessary.”
There is more to bowling than rolling a ball down the lane in hopes of knocking down wooden blocks.
For Vanderbilt’s coaches, there is always a landscape of emotional highs and lows – art and science – as they manage and encourage a roster of gifted young women.
On Coach John Williamson’s mind:
“At this point in the year I’d rather have wins than pin count because they are more important in the selection to the NCAA Championship (the Commodores have won 22 of their last 23 games) but you go into each tournament wanting to have a chance to win it. Today we weren’t very good with our spare shots and we left a lot of pins on the deck. There are some pretty good teams here and we weren’t good enough to make the top four today.
“There were some good things,” he continued, “the team showed it has some resiliency by creating momentum late in the matches. (three of Vandy’s four wins were come-from-behind). It would be nice to win these matches by big margins but if we get a chance to bowl in St. Louis those matches will be tight so getting this experience is important.”
Regarding Abrahamsen’s pressure-packed experiences:
“I think the ironic thing against McKendree is that Kelsey’s ball was the best shot we threw in the 10th frame but it just didn’t have enough carry. Kelsey has shown this year that when she has an opportunity she doesn’t shy away. It’s something she can build upon. She made big strikes in that Sacred Heart match (six in a row to close); she’s a very competitive kid.”
On Stark’s productive day as lead-off:
“The shot was playable from the left side and Katie took advantage of it. She controlled her controlables and did a very good job.”
The ticker reports that Kristin Quah led the Commodores with a 210.60 average to place eighth and Stark was right behind in ninth at 209.4 over the five team games. Sarah Littleton of St. Francis won the individual play with a powerful 229.0 average.
There are hundreds of stories – some are wins, some are setbacks and all are educational – in a college bowling tournament. These were but a few on this warm Saturday in Smyrna, Tennessee. The lessons continue tomorrow.
Bowling is more than rolling a ball down the lane hoping to knock over blocks of wood.
