FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY
Freshman Danielle McEwan on throwing four consecutive strikes after not striking in the first two games: “In the beginning, I didn’t have a very good line. It took me a couple of frames to get the nerves out. I made some adjustments and I figured it out.”
Senior Erica Perez on winning the national championship in the state of New Jersey: “It was the perfect ending to a dream come true. There’s no other way to put it. It has been a dream of mine the last four years to make it to this match alone, let alone to win it. I couldn’t have been with a better group of girls.”
Sophomore Joely Carrillo on the pressure of the match heading into the seventh game: “Surprisingly, there wasn’t too much pressure. In the huddle before the seventh game, we said that we believed in each other. We put in so many hours and so much work that we were ready coming into this tournament to get this done.”
LoPresti on whether he knew the match was as even as it was heading into the deciding seventh game: “I had a conversation with my assistant Lisa Friscioni, and I asked her, ‘Do you believe this match?‘ Nobody is throwing opens. Everyone is throwing doubles when they need doubles. The momentum swings were unbelievable. It was a fantastic match to coach. There was a real chess game going on between the coaches in terms of how you move your players, what equipment you use, and motivating players to make shots under pressure. Both teams were well-prepared today, that’s for sure.”
LoPresti on whether he was surprised Nebraska chose the left lane for the deciding seventh game: “No, because we had just shot a 230 in game six, and there was no way they were going to let us stay there. Nebraska’s better games seemed to be on that left lane, and it was because there was a little better hold on the left lane. On the right lane, if you missed a little bit left of your target, the ball hooked earlier. That was the struggle with the right lane. Going to the left lane was the right move for Nebraska. If I was in Coach Straub’s shoes, I would have done the same thing.
Perez on whether FDU got a few breaks in terms of mistakes by Nebraska: “I think we did, but we knew that the only way we could get the breaks was for us to throw good shots. If we took our time, talked and did what we had to do, we knew that this was the way that things were going to end. We came in today and spent a long time just hanging out and unwinding. We all had a special gut feeling that we were going to do it.”
LoPresti on the importance of the crowd support for FDU: “I compare it to a home court or home field advantage. This basically was a home tournament for us.”
LoPresti on Nebraska head coach Bill Straub’s comment that the home crowd played no factor in the victory for FDU: “I would respectfully disagree. I’ve been involved in athletics for a long time and coached many sports. I’ve brought teams into hostile environments before, and no matter how much you prepare your team, when there are a lot of people yelling and screaming, it weighs on you a little bit. I told our team that if we fall behind, we have to get the match to game seven because based on attrition, we would have a big advantage in game seven.”
Perez on missing a chance to win game three with a strike in the 10th frame: “I had faith in our team that we would rebound. It was a letdown, but after it was over, we huddled and the girls picked me up. I gave it my best shot, and then we moved onto the next game.”
Carrillo on the crowd support FDU received throughout the tournament: “Our parents support us all along, but this tournament obviously was closer to home. A lot of us had bowled in this house before, and that comfort zone with our family and friends really helped us all week.”
McEwan on what the general public doesn’t understand about collegiate bowling: “They don’t understand how hard it is. Some people think this game is a joke, but it’s really not that easy. There have been many times this season where I’ve thrown great shots that haven’t carried and coach will say, ‘Welcome to collegiate bowling.‘ The conditions we compete in are completely different than what the average bowler faces.”
Carrillo on how much luck plays into success in bowling: “On this team, we say that you earn your breaks We try not to get ahead of ourselves and take things one frame at a time. Luck is a factor, but you have to throw the ball the right way to make your breaks.”
Perez on facing the defending national champions in the title match: “It didn’t really matter to me. We beat them yesterday, but they came in here on Thursday and went 7-0. They came in this morning and defeated a very good Arkansas State team to get a rematch with us. We were the only team to beat them. They are a great champion.”
LoPresti on the impact of Perez on the FDU program: “She has brought stability. We’ve had our bouts and disagreements, but that’s because we’re very similar. We have common goals in terms of the team being the best that it can be and we want to win championships. Sometimes we were not on the same page, but as the years went by and we grew together, we both matured in our relationship I don’t know how we are going to fill her spot.”
LoPresti on whether there will come a day when the Bowl Championship Series conferences get involved in the sport of collegiate bowling: “I’m surprised they’re not in it already. When FDU first sponsored the sport, we thought that it was going to grow to be about a 100 teams in six years. That hasn’t happened. The sport is gradually growing, and I think the shoe needs to fall and one of the BCS conferences will have to jump in. Once that happens, competition will drive the other conferences to get involved as well.”
LoPresti on whether the quality of this championship match could be something that sparks other schools to consider sponsoring the sport: “There’s no question about it. It was a privilege for everyone who saw this match tonight. In my opinion, this was the best NCAA Tournament match ever played. I’ve seen a lot of them, been involved in a lot of them, and won many of them. This is a match that if my team would have lost, I would have been disappointed that we didn’t win the national championship, but I never could have been angry about losing because this was such an epic match.”
LoPresti on the significance of defeating national power Nebraska for his team’s second national title: “I told the players that the best way to win a championship is to beat the defending champion. Not only did we get a chance to win the national championship, we got a chance to beat the best program in NCAA bowling. They are the standard and the program that everybody tries to replicate.”
Perez on her future in the game of bowling: “I am going back to FDU next year to get my masters degree, but I want to say involved in bowling. I want to be a coach in the future. I’m not sure where or at what level, but I love bowling too much not to stay involved in some way.”
LoPresti on Nebraska senior Cassandra Leuthold: “Without question, she is one of the best players in the history of the game. She comes from a different part of the country than our players and our cultures are a little bit different. In the beginning when she first came into NCAA bowling, we didn’t really get a chance to know her. But one of the greatest things about this sport is that during the course of all of these seasons, we really learn a lot about the players and we all primarily become friends. What makes this sport so unique is the fact that three rival teams can get on one bus to drive to a tournament. We’ve done that many times. No other sport would consider doing that because it would be considered lunacy. In respect to Cassie, we’ve gotten to know her over the years and not only is she a quality player, she’s really a quality person as well.”
LoPresti on whether Nebraska’s Leuthold could compete professionally: “Absolutely. The secret to winning this tournament is the performance of the anchor players. My fear has always been that if Cassie gets hot, the best Erica could do was match her. Bill [Straub] has a big hole to fill with the loss of Cassie.”
Perez on Leuthold: “I’ve seen her battle through so many things. She’s a great person and I wish her the best. She’s done great things for this sport. I gave her a hug after we won and I told her she had an amazing four years.”
LoPresti on the single pin miss by Leuthold in the fifth frame of the deciding seventh game: “That was the crack in the armor that we had been waiting for. That was the first time in the entire match that I felt we could win. This might have been the highest level and the best match that this program has ever competed in, and we still almost lost the match. After that open, our team was like wolves with a carcass. We saw that we had the opportunity to win it and we took advantage of it.”
McEwan on her championship experience all week: “It was absolutely amazing. I just had a feeling that something special was going to happen this week, and it did.”
