PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore bowling squad (7-6) finally got back to competition on Oct. 22 finishing seventh at the Colonial Lanes Invitational. Now, after two weeks of practice, the season is returning more to business as usual as the team travels to Houston for the Track Kat Klash this weekend.
The event, hosted by Sam Houston State, begins Friday at 10 a.m. on Friday with Team Baker competition.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing where we continue to grow from based on what we saw this past event," head coach
Roger Petrin said. "We had a lot of opportunities and we saw it in front of us as a team. When we got back from that first event we were able to collaborate and come up with a game plan to help us progress for upcoming events."
As it turned out much of that plan involved improved spare shooting, which many agreed could have been better in Louisiana. A plan was put in place to get more out of practicing spare shooting including visualization within the practice framework. Petrin is anxious to see how that work paid off on the lanes this weekend as well as how the team approaches the second event of the season.
"Now that the first one is out of the way, the people who hadn't competed in college yet get it now," Petrin said. "You can see now that they understand why we are working on certain things in practice and how it all relates. But it also looks like they are having even more fun than they were before because the nerves are gone."
The event's field includes 10 teams ranked in the National Tenpin Coaches Association Preseason Poll including No. 1 Nebraska. Also competing are MEAC rivals No. 5 North Carolina A&T State and No. 14 Delaware State.
The No 20 Hawks have had strong practices overall and the excitement level for the weekend is high. Petrin is expecting some growth especially from his more inexperienced bowlers. Sophomore
Gabriella Ochoa Hubbard (Nogales, Sonora, Mexico), will be looking to build on a debut that saw her win Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Rookie of The Week. The coach has said that he saw more recognition out of her over the last couple weeks including details about the oil pattern and her ball compliment. He said it's the little steps during the season that everyone takes that will determine where the team ultimately finishes in April.
"Ultimately, I fully expect us to grow a lot as the season goes on," Petrin said. "We have some older bowlers, but they are not as experienced because they didn't bowl last year. We are a young team when it comes to how many shots they have thrown in college. There is plenty of room for growth."
