UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
University of Nebraska head coach Bill Straub on the quality of the championship match: “Coach LoPresti’s teams have been known for years as playing as close to their potential as any team in the country. If you can get close to your potential, that’s all you can ask of your kids.”
Straub on whether the crowd support was an advantage for FDU: “Not if we had won [joking]. There is no defense in bowling. Some momentum change is possible, but this game is like golf How well you control yourself is supposed to determine the outcome - control yourself both emotionally and physically. I thought this Husker team did that very, very well. There were a few breaks that could have gone our direction, but those are the breaks of the game. Our team performed terrifically.”
Straub on his decision to use the left lane in the deciding seventh game: “The left lane looked better to me. The ball reacted in a way on the left lane that I thought was more favorable than the right lane.”
Straub on electing to sub in Kristina Mickelson during the second frame of the second game: “Kristina has really been performing well and she’s certainly getting better all the time with her game. I had no problem going to her from a confidence standpoint, but I never figured that she would do as well as she did. She made great shot after great shot, and I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Mickelson on what the general public doesn’t understand about collegiate bowling: “I don’t think they understand the strategy that goes on in terms of mechanics, ball choices, and alignment. There is a lot more to it than the average person knows.”
Straub on how the average league bowler would perform under the same conditions that collegiate bowlers bowl under in the national championship: “They would find these conditions very, very difficult.”
Senior Cassandra Leuthold on whether her team was nervous heading into the seventh game: “We were definitely not nervous. We have a little bit of experience being in these situations. We’ve learned from past experiences that being nervous doesn’t help anything.”
Junior Katie Ann Sopp on whether she was anxious to get back on the lane after throwing five consecutive strikes at one point in the match: “I always can’t wait for my turn to come around. You just focus and make the best shot you can, and it doesn’t really matter what has happened in the past whether it was a strike or an open.”
Mickelson on how difficult it was to enter the match as a sub: “I left the bowling area and threw four shots in the practice area and came back and told coach how it went. My first shot was going to be a test shot to see if I could handle the pressure and if the ball rolled well. This was the first time I’ve bowled in the national final because I red-shirted last year. It was nerve-wracking, but I was determined to help my team.”
Straub on what he told Jasmine Laugerman when he subbed her out: “Jasmine had a couple of bad breaks that I did not think were bad execution, and consequently I passed that along to her. It was a situation where I thought it was worth telling her that we needed to try a little different chemistry. It was easy to bring in Kristina because her game has been so good.”
Straub on the water that was spilled causing a delay in the match: “No pun intended, but to talk about spilled water is like talking about spilled milk. I don’t believe it had a major effect.”
Straub on the career of Leuthold: “She was just named the national player of the year, and we are lucky that we’ve had five others who have won that same award. She certainly is as deserving as any player we’ve ever had.”
Straub on what Leuthold has meant to his program: “Success.”
Straub on the Nebraska season in general: “We had a difficult fall which I chalk up to insufficient coaching. By the finish of the first semester, we were looking at not being invited to this tournament. We took a page out of [former UCLA basketball coach] John Wooden’s book. Wooden assembled his team of All-Americans at the start of the season and showed them how to put on their socks. At the start of the second semester, we said that the round object is the ball, and the skinny objects are the pins, let’s see if we can work from there. They worked their tails off doing the fundamentals and turned things around.”
Straub on having the championship staged in New Jersey: “I think having a New Jersey team in the final was a major benefit to the event. I don’t think it factored into FDU winning, but it was a great plus for the event. We just got the wrong trophy. Other than that, no complaints.”
Leuthold on her career at Nebraska: “Attending Nebraska was the best decision of my life. Coach Straub elevated my game to a level that I never believed I could reach. I never thought I would be compared to the best players in the world.”
Leuthold on her future in the game of bowling: “I plan to play in some amateur tournaments and maybe try the professional route. I think I will have a successful future because coach did a great job developing me.”
Straub on whether Leuthold can make a living as a professional bowler: “Nobody is currently able to make a living as a professional bowler. Her skill level is sufficient enough, but there just is not the prize money available. The issue is prize money related on the tour, not with her ability.”
