Nebraska Seeded Third at Columbia 300 Saints

Chesterfield, Mo. - The Nebraska bowling team is in third place after the second day of competition at the Columbia 300 Saints on Saturday.

The starting rotation for the Huskers began with Leah Glazer, Michelle Guarro, Kendyl Hofmeister, Cassidy Ray and Raquel Orozco.

Nebraska took on Sam Houston State to begin the day and started off strong with a strike right away by Glazer. The Huskers continued to bowl strong, but came up a little short falling 924-940. Hofmeister led the team with a score of 213 and had a team-high six strikes. Guarro was second on the team with a pinfall of 195. In third was Glazer collecting a pinfall of 189 and six strikes, fourth was Ray with 171, and rounding out NU was Orozco with 156. After the first match, Nebraska fell to ninth in the standings with a pinfall of 5,671.

The Huskers moved on to face Aurora for their second match of the day. The Huskers recouped from their early loss by taking the match 1,011-765. Nebraska began the match by bowling three strikes in the first frame to Aurora's one. Guarro led the team with seven strikes and a total pinfall of 238. Orozco also came back strong by falling 222 pins, followed closely by Glazer as she took out 218 pins. Ray and Hofmeister finished fourth and fifth, respectively with scores of 180 and 153. After the match, Nebraska moved up to seventh place. The Huskers were 113 points from fourth place, which is where they'd need to finish on Saturday in order to have a chance at first place on Sunday.

After a mighty win, the Huskers faced off against Valparaiso where they claimed their second consecutive victory by a score of 1,020-893. Three Huskers bowled over 200. Orozco led the team with 267 followed by Glazer with 208 and Cassidy with 201. Hofmeister bowled a 181 and Michelle finished fifth of the team with 163. Orozco had a spectacular finish having a team-high nine strikes. Glazer finished with four consecutive strikes and six overall. Ray also reached six strikes in Nebraska's third match of the day. Even with their large win, Nebraska still fell a spot in the standings back down to eighth, 119 pins out of fourth place.

Following two consecutive wins, Nebraska went against Wisconsin-Whitewater and claimed another 1,084-938 win. In the fourth frame, NU decided to sub in Allison Morris for Hofmeister. Morris got three strikes immediately. Ray took the match by storm as she bowled 10 consecutive strikes before missing a pin in the second part of the 10th frame. She finished the game by taking down the pin and scored 289 to lead the Huskers. Orozco finished second on the team with a pinfall of 208 and Glazer came next with 199. Hofmeister and Morris combined for 195 and Michelle rounded out the team with a total of 193 pins on the match. After the match, NU was in fifth and only six points outside of fourth place.

Heading to the last match of the day, Nebraska bowled against No. 4 Arkansas State where the team earned a narrow 1,022-1,008 victory. Glazer led the team with a pinfall of 216 and Orozco was close with a score of 207. In third was Ray with 206 and Guarro in fourth falling 200 pins. To round out the Huskers was Morris with 193. In the final frame Glazer had two strikes and knocked down nine more. Guarro finished with three consecutive strikes. Glazer led the team in strikes with seven.

In the individual standings, Orozco led the Huskers and finished third overall with a pinfall of 1,060. Ray finishing in fifth with a score of 1,047. With top-five finishes, both Orozco and Ray were named to the All-Tournament Team. Glazer finished in 10th with a pinfall of 1,030 and Guarro came in 17th after bowling 989.

"Today was a much better day than yesterday." Head Coach Paul Klempa Said. "We made the necessary adjustments from yesterday and the team stayed the course and it all paid off today. We moved up seven spots to third in the standings and won four of our five matches today. The team showed a lot of grit and determination and they are excited that they made such a big jump in the standings. We are all excited for tomorrow's championship bracket."

The Huskers will return to the lanes for bracket play Sunday at 8:30 a.m. against Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Columbia 300 Saints Standings after Day 2

No. 1 McKendree (10,309)
No. 4 Arkansas State (9,872)
No. 3 Nebraska (9,808)
No. 18 Wisconsin Whitewater (9,782)
No. 2 Sam Houston State (9,751)
No. 15 Maryville (9,720)
Central Missouri (9,656)
No. 11 Louisiana Tech (9,649)
No. 20 Lincoln Memorial (9,461)
Tusculum (9,076)
Valparaiso (8,977)
Drury (8,903)
Kentucky Wesleyan (8,840)
Lewis (8,754)
Upper Iowa (8,351)
Augustana (7,986)
Aurora (7,843)
Spalding (7,738)
North Central (7,737)