Huskers Shoot for Sixth NCAA Title in 2018

As the 2017-18 season begins for the Nebraska bowling team, the Huskers have their sights set on winning a sixth NCAA championship after two second place finishes in the past two seasons. 

Bill Straub, the 2017 NTCA Coach of the Year, will lead the Cornhuskers again this season. In his 21 years as head coach of the Huskers, Straub has earned NTCA Coach-of-the-Year honor three times and has led the Huskers to 10 national titles, including five NCAA championships. Nebraska is the only program to have qualified for every NCAA Championship since bowling became an NCAA-sanctioned sport in 2003-04.

“The team is very young, but thankfully, it is loaded with skill and is very cohesive. The team manages to stay heavily focused on development and performance,” Straub said, “Potential is in place for 2017-18 to be an enjoyable season. One that is also hopefully rewarding and successful.”

Paul Klempa, the assistant head coach, also returns for his 21st season.

“I am excited to work this season with the fine student-athletes returning from last year’s team along with multiple very talented incoming players,” Klempa said. 

This 2017-18 team is composed of three returning All-Americans in Kelly Beleski, Julia Bond and Meghan Straub. The Huskers also return five letterwinners from last year’s team in Belzeski, Bond, Straub, Allison Morris and Raquel Orozco.

Bond, a three-time All-American, led the Huskers last season with an average of 212, the seventh highest single-season average in program history. She hopes to lead the Huskers to another championship after being named the NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Bowler when the Huskers won the title in 2015. As a co-captain this season, she hopes to become the sixth Husker to be named a four-time All-American.

“It has been a blast, but seems impossible that the years have passed so quickly, and that I am now...one of the two old players on the team,” Bond said. “I take very seriously being appointed co-captain, and I will do all in my power to help continue the successes of Husker Bowling.”

Honorable-mention All-Americans Belzeski and Straub also return this season ready to take on the competition. Belzeski was second on the team with an average of 203.8 last season, and finished first individually at a pair of tournaments, including the NCAA Championship, where she posted an average of 217.6. Straub notched a pair of top-five finishes last season on the way to a season average of 198.7.

The trio of Bond, Belzeski and Straub likely have three of the five rotation spots on lockdown, with the final two positions up for grabs. A pair of sophomores, Orozco and Morris, return both starting and relief experience for the Huskers this season. Orozco spent much of last season in the starting lineup, and posted a strong average of 202.3 on the season, which ranks sixth all-time among Husker freshmen. Morris competed in three tournaments and averaged a score of 181.3 as a redshirt freshman.

This season, sophomore Kelly Huddleston and redshirt freshman Estefania Prieto look to break into the starting lineup for the first time. Amanda Morgan, a sophomore transfer from Prairie View A&M, also will be aiming for a spot on the Husker's five-person rotation. Newcomers Michelle Guarro and Cassidy Ray also will add depth to the roster in their first season as Huskers.

The letter winners, All-Americans and newcomers are all playing toward the goal of winning another National Championship.

Nebraska must work to replace seniors Gazmine Mason, Briana Zabierek and Alexandra Mosquera who dominated the lineup for multiple seasons and were strong leaders both on and off the lanes. Mason was a three-time All-American for the Huskers and Zabierek was an honorable-mention All-American in 2016.

The Cornhuskers hope to continue their dominance off the lanes as well. Last season, 10 Huskers were named to the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll in the fall semester. The Huskers also were honored for their work in the community in 2017, as all 11 Husker bowlers were named to the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team.

Nebraska begins its 2017-18 season at the Hampton Roads Invite, which takes place Oct. 21-22, before competing at the McKendree Bearcat Open, hosted by defending NCAA champion McKendree, the next weekend, Oct. 27-29.

The Huskers will head to the Track Kat Klash in Houston in early November, and will wrap up the 2017 calendar year with the Warhawk Classic in Kenosha, Wis., Nov. 10-12.

The spring semester schedule kicks off with the Mid-Winter Classic in Jonesboro, Ark., where the Huskers are defending champions, Jan. 12-14.

The month of February will be busy for the Huskers, beginning with another visit to Texas when the Big Red travels to Arlington for the Prairie View A&M Invitational, where NU has won five-consecutive editions. 

The Huskers will compete at the Crusader Classic in Chicago Feb. 9-11, before heading to the SFA Jacks Invite in Houston, Feb. 16-18. NU will bowl at the Lincoln University Clash in Kansas City, Mo., Feb. 24-25.

The Huskers will return home to host the annual Big Red Invitational on March 1-3 at Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln. NU will look to return to its winning ways at the tournament after finishing second last season. The event is free all weekend to fans and promotional activities and giveaways are scheduled.

The Huskers will close the regular season with the Music City Classic March 16-18 in Nashville, Tenn.

The 2018 NCAA Championship is scheduled for April 12-14 in St. Louis, Mo. Nebraska is the only program to have qualified for the tournament in each of the 14 years that the NCAA has sponsored bowling, and has reached the title match in each of the past five seasons.