Statesmen Close Season with One Win at NAIA Nationals
Sterling Heights, Mich.--The William Penn women's bowling team pushed its foes to the brink, but could not close out its matches, finishing with a 1-2 record at the NAIA National Championship Thursday and Friday.
WPU opened the Championship by qualifying 11th out of 12 teams with 4,402 pins in 24 Baker games. Indiana Tech topped qualifying with 4,800 pins.
As the #11 seed, the navy and gold drew #6 seed Tennessee Southern in the opening round. William Penn won the first game, but then fell behind 2-1 before knotting it up with a fourth-round victory. Unfortunately, the squad could not come out on top in the fifth and final round in a 3-2 setback. Match scores were 277-175, 193-194, 197-199, 189-161, 167-213.
The Statesmen were demoted to the consolation bracket where they ended up meeting #4 seed and Heart of America Athletic Conference rival Baker. The squad once again reached the fifth and decisive round, but got there with a different route. WPU lost the first two games before rattling off back-to-back victories. Then in the fifth round, the Statesmen exorcised some demons from a month ago at the Heart Championship (WPU finished second to Baker) and defeated the Wildcats in a reverse sweep. Match scores were 204-219, 167-186, 225-185, 235-189, 209-182.
The triumph moved the crew into a bout against #10 seed Madonna (Mich.). William Penn won the second and fourth games to get, one more time, to a fifth round. Unfortunately, just as it did versus Tennessee Southern, the Statesmen ran out of gas and lost the match 3-2. WPU was eliminated from competition with match scores of 172-208, 175-156, 179-266, 184-136, 199-244.
National championship team members included Isabel Diaz (So., Kissimmee, Fla., Communications), Gabi Evans (Sr., West Liberty, Iowa, Psychology and Sociology), Toni Hansen (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska, Biology), Alexis Lake (Sr., Kaysville, Utah, Nursing), Christy Mottier (Sr., Madison, Wis., Business Management), Caitlin Radliff (So., Belleville, Ill., Software Engineering), Madison Ross (Sr., Charles City, Iowa, Exercise Science), and Cydnee Whiteleather (Jr., Lehigh Acres, Fla., Elementary Education).
"Our ladies bowled really well in taking every match to five games," Head Coach Kirstin Foster said. "Ultimately, we came up short, but they fought hard until the last ball. Our shot making and spare shooting was great when it mattered."
"I am proud of how we performed not only this week, but the entire season," Foster added. "We showed what it means to be a team and I could not ask for more. I will miss the players who are moving on, but I am also excited to see what the future holds."
