Fifth-Ranked Nebraska Opens Regular Season at Crusader Classic

The fifth-ranked Nebraska bowling team opens the 2011-12 campaign this weekend at the Crusader Classic, hosted by Valparaiso University. The event begins on Friday, Nov. 11 at 1:30 p.m. with the first round of baker game matches. The event will continue at noon on Saturday afternoon with a series of team game competitions, followed on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. with baker match play to conclude the tournament.

The Crusader Classic is comprised of nine teams, including Arkansas State, Wisconsin-Whitewater, Elmhurst College, Adrian College, Alabama A&M, Texas Southern, Salem International, Valparaiso and Nebraska. Of the five ranked teams taking part in the event, the Huskers are ranked the highest, followed by Arkansas State.  

Nebraska will be represented at the Crusader Classic by six traveling Huskers. Seniors Valerie Calberry and Kayla Johnson will begin their final season with the Huskers at this weekend's tournament, while juniors Shalima Zalsha and Kristi Mickelson begin their third season with the Huskers. Sophomore Yan Ling and freshman Liz Kuhlkin will be making their Husker debuts at the competition.

Last season, en route to a third-place finish at the NCAA Championship, the Huskers won the Crusader Classic, defeating Minnesota State - Mankato in the final baker match of the tournament. The Huskers went on to win four of its seven tournament titles in the regular season. The Huskers have finished first, second and third at the NCAA Championship in three consecutive seasons.

The Huskers will follow up the Crusader Classic at the Track-Kat Clash running from Dec. 2-4 in Huntsville, Texas.

NTCA Division I Bowling Rankings: As of October 26, 2011

1          Maryland-Eastern Shore (11) 514

2          Vanderbilt (5)                504

3          Fairleigh-Dickinson        464

4          Central Missouri (1)        456

5          Nebraska (3)                 448

6          Arkansas State              360

7          Sam Houston State       358

8          Kutztown                       356

9          Sacred Heart                 272

10         New Jersey City            228

11         Adelphi                         183

12         Delaware State              155

13         Stephen F. Austin          148

14         Alabama A&M               105

15         Norfolk State                   85

16         St. Francis (N.Y.)             76

17         Wisconsin-Whitewater      73

18         Valparaiso                       67

19         St. Francis (Pa.)              21

20         Prairie View                     15

Last Season at the NCAA Championship:

The Nebraska women's bowling team fell to Vanderbilt 4-1 in the fifth-round of the NCAA Championships, held at Skore Lanes in Taylor, Mich. The Huskers were one baker series away from ESPN's televised championship baker match.

The Huskers came out firing, taking the first game against the Commodores, 193-168. After the first game, it was tough for the Huskers to get any sort of momentum on their side. The Commodores took the second and third games, 203-163 and 222-157.

In the fourth and fifth games, the Huskers seemed poised to strike back in each tightly contested game, but fell to errors at inopportune times. In the fourth game of the match, the Huskers needed a mark in the tenth frame to seal the victory, but a costly chop of the 6 and 10 pin provided Vanderbilt with the victory, 216-212. The fifth game also went down to the wire, and it looked as if the Huskers were going to pull back to 3-2, but again, Vanderbilt was able to string together strikes in one of the highest scoring matches of the day for the victory, 254-245.

Vanderbilt was able to defeat Nebraska in back-to-back days, ousting them from the NCAA Championships. But the Huskers were not the only top seed to fall in Saturday morning's round five, as No. 1 seed Fairleigh Dickinson fell to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

The NCAA Championship's All-Tournament team was announced after the championship match on Saturday afternoon. Individually, NU's Kayla Johnson (214.1) and Kristi Mickelson (211.5) cracked the top-10 individual averages at No. 6 and 7, respectively. Katie Ann Sopp rounds out the Huskers at 207.9 for twelfth-place, individually.