Bulldogs fall short in a shootout in Texas

From the desk of coach Preble

This past weekend the Bulldogs traveled to Dallas, Texas for the 2023 Intercollegiate Singles and Team Qualifiers. The events started on Friday with the singles qualifier. As covered in an earlier post, freshman Vincent Luong punched his ticket to Las Vegas next month for the Singles Championship by leading a field of 177 qualifiers. This impressive feat was made even more incredible considering he broke a bone in his foot 5 weeks ago and had minimal practice time coming into this event. Vincent will travel to Las Vegas April 15th-16th to do battle with the other 23 singles qualifiers. The top 4 out of the singles qualifier will make the TV show finals for a chance at the national title. Junior, Spencer Norvell also had a strong showing in the singles qualifier finishing in 7th place, just 25 pins away from qualifying. Congrats to both athletes for representing Fresno State so well. Be Bold!

The team portion of the weekend began Saturday morning and consisted of 32 baker format games. The Bulldogs entered the qualifier ranked 47th in the nation and were the 13th seed of the 20 teams invited to the Dallas sectional. After an up and down 1st day, the Dogs found themselves sitting in 9th place, 240 pins out of 4th place; the last qualifying position for the National Championships next month in Las Vegas.

Going into Sunday, the Bulldogs knew they had to significantly improve on Saturday's scores in order to climb up the leader board. While they preceded to knock down 203 pins more than the previous day, the teams ahead of them also managed to bowl much better. Their final standing was 7th place, 288 pins away from advancing to nationals. This represents our best run in the past 6 years and this team now knows the effort that will be required to again challenge for a national title.

Perhaps the best part of the weekend is all eight of our players contributed positively at various times. After we hit the team to bring better energy and intensity going into Sunday, they brought it and it was as it should be. The sense of urgency was there, they fought til the end and we are very proud of their effort.

Also, the 'Jerry Jerry Jerry' phenomenon was in full effect once again. Several coaches told me their players couldn't wait until they crossed with us so they could get in on the cheer! Several teams actually yelled loader for Jerry than we did....amazing stuff. He was also seen signing several autographs. It's so fun to have a celebrity on the team...lol.

Individually, the Bulldogs were led by Junior Spencer Norvell who had his strongest tournament in his two years of collegiate bowling. Incidentally, Spencer recently made a bold decision to change the manner in which he shot at his spares. Over the coarse of four weeks, he dedicated a tremendous amount of reps to lock down the mechanism. Making this type of change this late in a season is always difficult; however, his gamble paid off very well and he deserves a lot of credit for the work he put in.

Next up for the team is Club Nationals in Anderson, Indiana the weekend of April 1st and 2nd.

Next up for Vincent Luong is the Intercollegiate Singles Championship in Las Vegas, April 15-16th

Equipment in play at the Dallas Sectional....

Spencer Norvell- Track Stealth (this ball was a beast all weekend!) and Track Innovator Pearl

Ben Walmer- Columbia Speed and Hammer Black Widow Hybrid

Neil Weinstein- Brunswick Defender Solid and Brunswick Knockout Black n Blue

Clarissa Samano- Brunswick Evo Solid and Hammer Obsession Tour

Kevin Hammons- Brunswick Evo Solid and Radical Katana Assault

Vincent Luong- Hammer Obsession Tour, Dv8 Damn Good Verge Solid, Dv8 Damn Good Verge Pearl and Track Kinetic Black Ice

Jerry Moua- Brunswick Teal Pro Zone, Ebonite The One Remix and Brunswick Rhino

Nolan Byers- Dv8 Brutal Collision and Radical Rattler

Once again, great support from our club parents both near and far....... Clark and Jill Walmer, Jason and Terry Weinstein, Steven and Tina Norvell, Pamela Norvell, Cornell and Ophelia Hammons, Cindy Szeto and Andy Luong were pulling for us all weekend. Special thanks to Stephen again for running the live-stream this trip! Hope your knee is doing okay.

As always, we couldn’t do this without our sponsors, The Brunswick Corporation and Vise Incorporated.

Go Bulldogs! #bebold

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