Huskers Head to Texas for Prairie View A&M Invitational

 Friday-Sunday, February 2-4, 12:15 p.m., 9:25 a.m., 8:25 a.m. (CT) Arlington, Texas (International Training and Research Center)

The top-ranked Nebraska bowling team heads to Texas for the Prairie View A&M Invitational this Friday through Saturday. The tournament is hosted by 25th-ranked Prairie View A&M, and the Huskers have won the tournament in each of the last five seasons.

Competition will include each of the top five ranked teams and eight of the top ten teams in No. 2 McKendree, No. 3 Arkansas State, No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Sam Houston State, No. 7 Stephen F. Austin, No. 8 Maryland Eastern Shore and No. 10 Farleigh Dickinson. The remaining four teams competing in Texas are ranked in the top-25 teams in No. 12 Sacred Heart, No. 17 North Carolina A&T, No. 19 Louisiana Tech, and hosts No. 25 Prairie View A&M.

Seniors Kelly Belzeski and Julia Bond will be making the trip to Arlington along with teammates Kelly Huddleston, Allison Morris, Raquel Orozco, Meghan Straub and Michelle Guarro.

The Huskers are coming off a second-place finish at the Mid-Winter Invitational where they went 12-1 for the weekend, falling only to Mckendree 4-0 in the championship match of the best-of-seven Baker format championship. Belzeski won the individual portion of the tournament with an average of233.8 followed closely by Allison Morris in second place and Raquel Orozco in fourth. All three were also named to the All-Tournament team for their performances.

The tournament begins Friday morning at 12:15 p.m. with five sets of five-game Baker matches, followed by five traditional matches on Saturday morning, beginning at 9:25 a.m. Combined results from Friday and Saturday will determine the seeding for Sunday’s bracket-play championship tournament, in which each team will play three rounds of best-of-seven Baker matches beginning at 8:25 a.m.

Prairie View A&M Invitational Notes The Huskers have won each of the last five editions of the Prairie View Invitational. In 2017, the Huskers swept Vanderbilt 4-0 in the championship match. Gazmine Mason finished eighth overall with an average 202.7 on the weekend. Julia Bond finished 14th overall with an average of 198.8, while Kelly Belzeski was 19th with an average of 197.3 and Meghan Straub was 20th with an average of 196.3.

Four Huskers Selected to National Teams at the USBC Team USA Trials

Current Huskers Julia Bond and Amanda Morgan and former Husker greats Liz Kuhlkin and Shannon Pluhowsky earned spots on various national teams at the 2018 United States Bowling Congress Team USA Trials, held Tuesday through Sunday at The Orleans Bowling Center in Las Vegas, Nev.  Bond, Kuhlkin and Pluhowsky qualified for Team USA for the 2018 season, while Morgan will represent the United States on Junior Team USA in 2018. Both Bond and Kuhlkin earned spots on the 2018 Team USA after being selected by the National Selection Committee based on their performances at the trials. Bond also finished second overall in the U.S. Amateur Stepladder Finals on Sunday. Shannon Pluhowsky, who was a member of the Nebraska bowling team from 2000-05, was also offered a spot due to her overall performance at The Orleans. Morgan earned a spot on the Junior Team USA based on her performance in Las Vegas. Gazmine Mason, who competed from 2013-17, and current Husker senior Kelly Belzeski also competed at the trials. 

 

Prairie View A&M Invitational- Teams Competing

No 1. Nebraska 
No. 2 McKendree
No. 3 Arkansas State
No. 4 Vanderbilt
No. 5 Sam Houston State 
No. 7 Stephen F. Austin
No. 8 Maryland Eastern Shore
No. 10 Farleigh Dickinson
No. 12 Sacred Heart
No. 17 North Carolina A&T 
No. 19 Louisiana Tech
No. 25 Prairie View A&M