Bearkats selected to 10th straight bowling tournament
Mar. 31—HUNTSVILLE — After a tough weekend in the Southland Conference tournament, Sam Houston bowling fell just short of the conference championship, and the auto tournament bid into the regional bids.
However, a top-tier resume and strong performance lifted the Bearkats to an at-large bid into the Arlington regional tournament making this the 10th consecutive appearance by Sam Houston's bowling squad.
"This is our 10th consecutive for us and it is never easy," Sam Houston bowling coach Brad Hagen said. "That is always the tough part because you always have new faces. It's always fun and adventurous every year and we've gone through some trialling things this year just like everybody else. We had a good group and we proved that you don't necessarily need 10-12 options. We did what we did and finished extremely competitively and where we should be. We are the only top-10 team in the country operating that way and I think that speaks volumes for us."
Sam Houston's bowling squad competed in the Southland conference championships over the last weekend as they faced adversity. The Bearkats entered the tournament as the fifth seed and opened against fourth-seeded Youngstown State as the Kats got a 2-0 win to advance.
The Bearkats later knocked off Vanderbilt to stay alive but Arkansas State knocked off the Kats to send them to the elimination bracket right before the championship game.
Another matchup with Louisiana Tech was looming on Sunday morning for the chance to go to the championship round.
Sam Houston trailed for the opening two games but eventually came back to make the championship round later that day.
"This time of the year, it's about the attrition type things," Hagen said. "You want to ascend at the right times and be healthy, mentally just as well as physically. We've done a really good job with the trainers and the team understanding what we need to do if the day comes about. We train for long days and the postseason. That's a huge contributing factor to our success. We haven't put it all together yet in the last six weeks and it came together. We did what we needed to do."
Sam Houston fell to Arkansas State again in the championship but has now seen what it takes to have the determination of fighting through long days to reach the top.
"The thought between my freshman year and now hasn't changed," graduate bowler Bea Hernandez said. "Wherever we do end up, it's us against the lanes, not our match against whoever we go against. It is a great opportunity to go to regionals again and represent the school and program. At the end of the day, we have to do what we have to do."
Sam Houston's roster is built up of six bowlers, which is the lowest number for a team that is ranked in the top 10 of the sport.
The Kats are made up of two graduates and two seniors. Hernandez is one of those graduate students and is taking place in her final season for the Bearkats. She is joined by Elise Chambers as a graduate student in her fifth year.
Hernandez and Chambers have been a big boost for this team this year helping them to two first-place finishes this season and several top-fives.
Bringing them back also gives the team a boost in having familiar faces for a highly limited roster.
The rest of the Bearkats are seniors Kaia Gray and Alexia Cassman, Junior Denise Blankenzee, and sophomore Taylor Lucas.
"Any sport and any roster when you can bring back three all-Americans and two former rookies of the year it's a good thing," Hagen said. "That certainly helps the competitive maturity of the team and helps establish and keep the culture of a team. The good thing is we had all those checks and balances in place and it was just getting everyone else to buy in."
Sam Houston's at-large bid into the Arlington regional could be on the toughest spots to be in the entire bracket. The Kats are bracketed with McKendree, who is the top-seeded team in the entire bracket, and Louisiana Tech, another program that the Kats have faced a lot in recent competition.
But the take the Bearkats have is a positive one in the fact that everybody is beatable and it is just more of a competition between you and the lanes instead of an opposing team and that things are not over until the final ball is thrown down the lane.
"It's not over until the last ball is thrown," Hernandez said. "We really made it to the last ball every match and that's all that it's proven to us. We are not out of the game or match until it is over."
The regional tournament will take place on April 7 in Arlington and the Bearkats will open the tournament with Louisiana Tech. The play is double elimination and includes McKendree as the top seed.
McKendree, the reigning national champion, will face the winner of a play-in game between Fayetteville State and Prairie View A&M. The winner of the tournament will then head to
"Those are two really good programs and we've been bowling with LA Tech a lot lately," Hagen said. "We are going to have to stay out of trouble and fill up frames. I always enjoy going up against McKendree because it's the battle of the Bearkats. No matter who fans are cheering for they are always cheering for the Bearkats. You never have that extra distraction. One thing we have going for us is we saw them a few times and I think that will play into hopefully seeing them in the regional final."
