BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer
A year ago, Vanderbilt University’s bowling team was struggling with only eight victories with a bunch of walk-on prospects.
But Brick’s Karen Grygiel was part of a youth movement of recruits that were regarded as some of the best high school bowlers in the country, and they turned the program into an overnight success, finishing in fifth place in the NCAA Tournament on Easter weekend in Houston.
“It was a big accomplishment,” understated Grygiel. “I don’t think getting there was a surprise but a lot of people were surprised because we had so many freshmen in a program that was new. In our hearts, we felt we should be there with the talent and ability we had, and we just tried our best to get there.”
Grygiel had done her part, even though she said she bowled “OK” in the championships. Her 192.682 average ranked her 31st in the nation, and her play helped Vandy go 56-36 in a demanding schedule that called for extensive traveling to tournaments in Las Vegas, Alabama, Nashville, at Morgan State in Baltimore and in Chicago.
Her team was one of eight qualifiers that included the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, which has Brick’s Jessica Worsley in its lineup. Grygiel said she had spoken often with Worsley and gotten good advice from her on dealing with pressure of big-time college bowling.
But this was different from what she was used to in high school and in league play in the Brick area. The NCAA Tournament used the Baker set format, in which each of five bowlers on a team rolls two frames – one bowling the first and fifth, another the second and sixth, another the third and seventh, the other a fourth and ninth, and the fifth bowler the fifth and 10th frames. Grygiel was the third bowler. In regular tournament play, she was the leadoff bowler.
“I definitely learned that college is much less individual and much more team-oriented,” she said. “Everyone is encouraging you and keeping a positive attitude. It’s a big step from high school bowling.
“It’s mental, physical, everything,” she said. “You practice so much more than high school. Practices are invigorating and a different level of playing the lines. It’s much more demanding physically and mentally.”
Grygiel said she and her mates had to lift weights, and do cardiovascular workouts twice a week and yoga twice a week, and practice four or five days a week.
“Tournaments are much longer and much more demanding,” said Grygiel.
“You don’t just put in three games. There are rounds and advancements. The whole level is brought up a bit.”
In the NCAA tournament, the first team to win four games advances and Vanderbilt provided plenty of excitement in that regard.
“It reminded me of my freshman year in high school when we went to the state championship game,” said Grygiel.
Vanderbilt opened against Central Missouri State, the national runner-up the last two years to Nebraska, and trailed, 2-1, in games before winning the next three, the first one by only one pin, 204-203.
Then, it went on to play two New Jersey colleges. It went down the wire to Fairleigh Dickinson, which narrowly pulled out the seventh game to advance to the championship that it eventually won. Then, Vanderbilt took on New Jersey City University and, in an apparent letdown, was swept in four games.
“For some reason when they bowl against us, they’re outrageous,” said Grygiel of NJCU.
“We bowled against them during the year and we struggled every time against them.”
Grygiel said in the NCAAs she “succumbed to the pressure a little. It wasn’t a disaster, but some games I was on and some games I was off,” she said.
With such a young team, Grygiel said she and her mates are looking forward to next season. She’ll compete again in July this year in the Junior Gold in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for the third straight year. Grygiel was 28th last year in Indianapolis and also was in the top 100 two years ago in Dallas. She’ll also compete in the Tuesday Night Sport Shot League in Howell and the Sunday Night Doubles League in Ocean Lanes, and will have plenty of experiences to share with her fellow bowlers.