Huskers Victorious in Kansas City

The NTCA No.1-rated Nebraska women's bowling team captured its fifth regular season tournament championship Sunday afternoon. as the Huskers placed first in the five-team Central Missouri Women's Invitational held at KC Bowl in Kansas City, Kan.

NU used a great team effort in the three-day-tournament, as both senior Liz Kuhlkin and sophomore Gazmine Mason were selected to the all-tournament team, leading the Huskers to an 11-1 overall record during the weekends competition.

Nebraska Head Coach Bill Straub was impressed with the Huskers overall performance, mentioning that NU needs to continue to finish strong heading into their last regular season competition of 2015.

“In general it was a great performance by the Huskers, they made a lot of good shots—especially when they counted,” Straub said. “We are now going into the last event of the year at Vanderbilt down in Nashville (Music City Classic), and we hope to prepare to do well down there.”

According to Straub, the Huskers have struggled at the Music City Classic in the past, placing fifth and fourth in the previous two events held in Nashville. Straub mentioned that the lane conditions are not always suited best for the Huskers style of play.

“Traditionally there is a lot of scoring and there are a lot of teams that compete at the tournament, we have not scored well on the lanes there in the past. We will have to change that when we get down there.”

Straub added, “Right now the team is doing really well, which means even if the lanes do not suit how we play, the team is really good right now and they should be ok.”

The Huskers were led by Kuhlkin, as the senior from New York placed first in the individual standings, compiling a weekend average of 234.33 with a high score of 266. Kuhlkin's performance did not surprise coach Straub one bit, as Kuhlkin has been really tearing it up during practice.

“Liz ran away from the field, she beat the field by a-whole-bundle and had a great performance,” Straub said. “She made them look silly, we had a couple games out of the 12 that were pretty close but we had Liz and the opponents did not. She did great.”

Also making the all tournament team was sophomore Gazmine Mason, as the Rhode Island native placed fifth overall in the competition with a 209.00 average and a high game of 268.

The Huskers compiled a 12,746 total pinfall throughout the three-day competition in front of second place Central Missouri (12,193).

The Nebraska bowling team will be back in action for its final regular season tournament of the 2015 season March 6-8 at the Music City Classic, held in Nashville, Tenn. by Vanderbilt University. Check back at Huskers.com for updates. 

Crawford Perfect on Saturday

Junior Melanie Crawford had one of the more impressive performances of the weekend on Saturday, as the Plano, Texas native rolled a perfect 300 during Saturday's competition. It was the second perfect 300 game the junior has rolled in her bowling career, and it certainly was her favorite moment to date.

“It was by far the most unforgettable moment of my collegiate career, especially to turn around and have all nine of my other teammates right behind me during every shot,” Crawford said. “After the last ball they all came up and hugged me on the approach. Definitely something I will never forget.”

Straub mentioned that he should have played Crawford sooner during the weekend's competition because she was only one game short of being eligible to make the all-tournament team. Still, Staub was extremely proud of Crawford's efforts.

“Melanie had a great weekend, her 300 was certainly one of the first perfect games we have had here In a while, she did not start the entire weekend or she would have made the all-tournament team,” Straub said. “She really did have a tremendous weekend, especially yesterday, she made them look real easy, I congratulate her whole-heartedly.”