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The Key / April 7, 2017
Athletics
Hawks earn NCAA berth as encore to MEAC crown UMES’ 2017 MEAC bowling champs from left, are: (front) sophomore Danielle August, graduate student Thashaina Seraus, junior Melanie Copey, sophompre Kaci Collins, freshman Brigitte Jacobs, (back) junior Jalesa Johnson, sophomore Lindie Esteban, freshman Cayla Hicks, Coach Kayla Bandy, and sophomores Quianna Macares; Alexandra Hernandez and Jacqueline Rhoda.
UMES – the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s 2017 championship bowling team – has earned a berth to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014. “You can say that this is the whole year worth of work that we put in,” graduate student Thashaina Seraus said. “This is one of the main goals we wanted to accomplish.” Seraus and her anxious teammates gathered around a conference table on announcement day, monitoring a live webcast with phones in hand or clinging to the hand of a teammate. When the eighth and final berth was announced, the screams came and three years’ worth of tension left the room. “We are ecstatic,” junior Melanie Copey said. “It means everything to Thashaina and me. There was a loss for words and we were just in tears.” Copey practically tackled Seraus. The tears flowed all around the room and family was called. “I felt a lot of butterflies obviously leading up to this,” Copey said. “I couldn’t eat a lot. I was nervous. I just really wanted to make this.” Seraus said she was unable to sleep. “I had to keep myself occupied the whole day and be around my teammates and try and share this day with them.” The team practiced that morning, but by 1:50 p.m., Seraus was so antsy after leaving class that she went straight to the bowling center until almost time for the announcement, when the team met in the Hytche Athletic Center conference room. The previous night, head coach Kayla Bandy said she “texted the girls
in preparation … letting them know that I was proud of where we came from, where we are now and where we are going.” “They worked hard the entire season and (NCAA bid day) wasn’t going to define us whether they listed our name or they didn’t it wouldn’t change my opinion of what we have done this season,” the coach said. While disappointment the past two announcements was never far from the minds of Seraus and Copey, the two most veteran members of the squad, six other bowlers also experienced frustration a year ago. The Hawks (84-39, 19-5 MEAC) travel to Baton Rouge, La., for the NCAA Championships April 13-15, where they’ll encounter seven other squads vying for a national championship. UMES finished third in the 2014 NCAA tournament behind perennial powers San Houston State and Nebraska, both in this year’s event. Other NCAA invitees are: McKendree (Illinois), Arkansas State, Vanderbilt, Fairleigh Dickinson (N.J.) and Stephen F. Austin (Texas). The 2017 Hawks got hot at the right time of year and finished by winning 29 of their last 33 games, including a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title. “After winning the MEAC, we are confident,” Seraus said. “The only thing we need to work on is the nerves, which improved at MEACs. We have all the tools we need as a team to win.” The Hawks have won the NCAA Championship three times: 2008, 2011 and 2012. The program also boasts two USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships: 2011 and 2013. The championship final will air on ESPNU April 15 at 6:30 p.m.