Women’s Bowling finishes fifth at season opener

SMYRNA, Tenn. (October 28, 2023) – The Milligan University women's bowling team began its second season of competition with a fifth-place team finish at the Mid-South Conference Music City Open on Saturday.

The one-day event format for the Greater Nashville Open was five team games and a dozen baker games. The Buffs totaled 4,458 pins in the team games and 2,076 pins in baker games to finish with 6,534 total pins to finish inside the top five behind SCAD-Savannah, Pikeville, Cumberlands and Midway.

"We had some momentum after game one led by Brianna Rickert and Allison Robbins but just had trouble with consistency today," said head coach Brian Rickert. "It didn't help that the lanes transitioned so quickly and our mistakes were amplified by the conditions. We struggled finding our lines in games two and three and could never get all 5 ladies going at once. It especially showed in the baker matches when we never topped 200."

Emily Cheesman and Brianna Rickert both notched top-12 finishes in the individual standings. Cheesman cleared 926 pins (185.2 average) totaling at least 176 pins in every game to finish 11th. Rickert opened the tournament with a 211 on her way to a 12th-place individual finish with 920 pins (184.0 average).

"Emily Cheesman and Brianna were the most consistent today which put them in the top 15. But when you're playing the talent at this event, you have to have others join them," said Rickert. "The good thing is that we see what we have to work on to move towards the top. The talent is there, and I'm confident these ladies will push themselves tomorrow to see if we can make a run."

Emilee Horton averaged 187.33 pins across three individual games with a high of 201. Emily King used a high game of 213 to average 183.67 pins in three individual games.

The Buffs averaged 173.0 pins across 12 baker games with a high of 197.

Milligan's JV finished fourth with 5,663 total pins. Olivia VanHooser led the junior varsity squad individuals with an average of 161.0 pins to finish 38th overall.

"Our JV ladies really had a great energy today and this first tournament was a great stepping stone," said Rickert. "I'm excited to see how these five freshman progress this season!"

The Buffs return to action at the Smyrna Bowling Center for the MSC Brandon Burns Memorial.