The greatest show on the lanes: Women’s bowling punches last chance ticket to NAIA nationals

On Feb. 21, the University of St. Francis’ (USF) women’s bowling team clutched up in the WHAC championship title, punching their ticket to NAIA Nationals. With the length of the bowling season, this win was long awaited.

For most sports at USF, there is a designated season in which the team competes; whether that be fall, winter or spring. Exceptions can be found to this precedent like the bowling season, which extends from September to March, as highlighted by senior team member Leigha Henkel. 

“We start practice at the beginning of September, and then our first tournament is at the end of September, beginning of October”, said Henkel. “So we basically bowl all year.” 

Since their start in September, Henkel noted the team chemistry was something that set the team expectations high for the season.

“I would say we started off good. I had pretty good expectations for us because we're a good group of girls and we're all good bowlers,” said Henkel.

Even with the strong team chemistry, the team had some rough patches during their fall semester competitions. Despite the season’s challenges, they ended the semester on a higher note with their highest tournament placement of the season, fourth, at the Glenn Carlson Invitational and the Collegiate Shootout in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

“There were peaks and drops…the peak was very short-lived and it kind of went right back down,” said Henkel. 
“I would say for the fall semester that's like when we walked in every tournament, like here we go again. Not high hopes. We didn't really have a good mindset going in.”

There are two ways for a team to earn an automatic bid to NAIA nationals. First is to be one of the highest ranking teams in the nation.The other is by winning one's conference tournament. With the lows the team experienced in the fall semester, they were not ranked high enough to earn a bid by ranking; which meant their only option was to win conference after not winning a tournament all season. 

“This is it. If we don't win this, we're not going to nationals, our season's cut short,” said Henkel. “We felt that feeling at the conference where we kind of just were like, we're gonna put it all out there. Like, we had nothing to lose, we just have to come out and show.”

That is exactly what the team ended up doing, winning three straight matches leading up to the championship deciding 4th. The team had a two hour break leading up to the game, a break some other teams may have spent worrying. 

“We partied, we secluded ourselves in the back, just the eight of us. 
At first it was just stretching”, said junior Haley Tobiasz. “Someone put music on and we got so happy. Then we just kind of just got loose, we already had those three wins in the backs of our minds. So we were like, we know we can do this”. 

Another unique team bonding moment of the weekend? Taking late night personality quizzes together. 

“Absolutely doom scrolling on BuzzFeed. 
We definitely did bond over it. I think we were just not talking about bowling and focused on something else,” said Henkel. “We weren't thinking ‘we need to win tomorrow,’ we were just literally not even paying attention to the fact that we had to bowl, just focused on BuzzFeed quizzes.” 

Henkel noted it was the little things that helped brighten the team’s mindset.

“We had time to just relax and even though we weren't like having conversation, we were doing the BuzzFeed quizzes,” said Henkel. “It really is the little things. I mean we started doing each other's hair, playing hair salon. But we were just all in the room and we had time. I think that was what it was. We had time, so we were like, let's just do this”. 

Even though the dance parties, hair salon and personality quizzes might seem silly, it was the moment of relaxation the team needed to win. 

“We just all were just being ourselves, doing whatever and it was cohesive”, said Henkel. “I think that came into the next day where we were like, we will do whatever we need to do to win, all we did that day was fight for it”. 

Now reaching another peak of the season, the team is looking towards NAIA nationals and the Intercollegiate Team Championship (ITC) national qualifying tournament both in mid-March. With the success that knowing when to lock into bowling and when to let loose with team bonding brought them at WHAC, Tobiasz noted that she hopes to bring that same mentality along with them for the rest of the season. 

“Keeping that winning streak in the back of our minds, we need to just let ourselves get loose because we get worked up if we don’t, and if we just keep that same routine it could be good”, said Tobiasz. 

Even if they do not succeed at the next two tournaments, Henkel mentioned that there is something to take away from every athletic experience. 

“Without my athletic experience, I wouldn't be who I am,” said Henkel. “It really does shape a lot of your morals, your personality, how you handle things. So it's really important to take even the bad experiences away and learn from them. Take the positives away from the bad experiences”. 

From the highs to the lows, the women’s bowling team showed that combining hard work, resilience, and fun moments is what makes a successful team.