Bowling team rolls to 42-39 record in CIAA return

The Winston-Salem State women's bowling team has seen exponential improvement. The team improved its record by winning 32 more matches than last year, finishing with a 42-39 record (28-17 conference).

"I took a different approach this year," said head women's bowling coach Trenton Rawley.

"We have the same bowlers as last season and the mindset of the team changed and that makes a huge difference."

Rawley is a 1978 WSSU graduate and a former Professional Bowling Association bowler.

The Lady Rams finished the season second in the CIAA Southern Division behind the CIAA champion Fayetteville State University Broncos.  

Before the season started, Rawley received help from Cliff Barnes Pro Shop, of Winston-Salem. The experts provided individual evaluations.

"The evaluations really helped," Rawley said.

The evaluations assisted the Lady Rams in not only improving their record from last year, but also achieving personal recognition as well.

Miranda Day is ranked fifth in the CIAA and made the all-tournament team.

Desiree Artis was ranked 24th and was the second Lady Ram ranked in the top 30 for CIAA bowlers.

"I am proud to see the growth in the Ladies this year," Rawley said.

"This will help us with recruiting better bowlers in the future."

Day led the way this season. She helped her teammates work on what they needed help with, Rawley said.

The team placed no lower than third in any divisional events during the season. The improvement on scoring helped the Lady Rams become contenders this season. "We had an outstanding year," Rawley said.

WSSU's average per game went from the low 700s to the low 800s.

"Everything that we achieved was because of our outstanding players."

The Ladies started the season as underdogs and had to prove that they could compete in the CIAA after not being in the conference since 2005.

"We were looked at as the Cinderella of the CIAA," Rawley said.

"The future is very bright for us."

The Lady Rams coaches are on the recruiting trail and have their eyes on Tyler Barringer. She averages 150 pins per game.

According to a recent e-mail from her coach Ron Vanderbilt March 14, the Huntersville, N.C. native is considering WSSU. "She has the potential to be a great bowler with the proper coaching."

"Our staff will work hard to make sure that we continue to improve the team and make us contenders for years to come," Rawley said.

"My goal is to make sure that we can bowl in events outside of our conference."