The Sacred Heart University (SHU) women’s bowling team improved their record this past weekend to 32-12 as they compete in their first season since going independent. Formerly a member of the Northeast Conference (NEC), the SHU bowling team is facing new challenges this season. With their eyes set on the NCAA Tournament this spring, their path to success has a different look than in years past.
“We had the automatic qualification through the NEC, but we don’t have that anymore, so the only path is an at-large bid, and the last time we did that was the COVID year when not all teams bowled, so getting there is pretty hard,” said Head Coach Becky Kregling.
With only eight spots available for an at-large bid, SHU will need to rank amongst the best in the nation. This makes every tournament they compete in extra important.
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The Pioneers pose after going undefeated in the Bowl for a Cure Tournament.
“It’s really different because NEC was always one tournament that we look forward to going to because it was our conference and we always had success,” said senior Molly Chiesa. “I think, honestly, we’ve taken that mentality into every weekend so we can move up the rankings, which I feel has made us better overall.”
SHU has fed off the increased pressure in recent weeks. On Nov. 9-10, at the Bowl for the Cure Tournament, they went a perfect 9-0, including two wins over Merrimack, the 14th ranked team in the country.
This past weekend, on Nov. 15-17, SHU went 8-5 and finished in 4th place at the Colonial Lanes Classic. They notched wins against 24th-ranked Oklahoma Christian, 17th-ranked Wichita State, 15th-ranked Newman and took one out of three against 8th-ranked Sam Houston.
“That definitely boosts team morale and gives everybody a little bit of confidence into thinking that we can continue beating teams like that and we can be ranked right where they are,” said junior Megan Prettyman.
Prettyman has played a pivotal role in SHU’s recent success. At the Bowl for the Cure tournament, she was named tournament MVP.
“It was pretty cool,” said Prettyman. “I don’t really tend to look at things from an individual perspective, I tend to look at it more as the team was doing well. The team went 9-0 and won the tournament both days.”
Midway through the season, the team is positioning themselves well for a shot at the NCAA Tournament in the spring, but their work is not done.
“Yes, we’re tired but at the end of the day, we’re college students. We’re always tired. We just need to get over that factor and just bowl as best as we can because we know we belong there. We know we can rank towards the top,” said Chiesa.
SHU will now have two months off to rest up for the final stretch of the season. On Jan. 17, they will be back in action at the Northeast Classic.
“It’s important that we don’t look too far ahead, and we just stay weekend by weekend and match by match. We really have a great group of girls. Everybody’s hard working, we have a lot of fun together, and I think that we all know that we have more fun together when we’re winning,” said Prettyman. “I think that fuels us into wanting to do well because then it’s more fun.”
