By Griffin O’Hara Media Writer
SOFIA, Bulgaria - In women’s doubles play Monday, the U.S. Bowling Team struggled but remained optimistic.
The first team, Cheyenne Bryant (979) and Jennifer Kutcka (1031), bowled a total of 2010 points, while teammates Sharon Rutherford (936) and Jerilyn Keller (977) totaled 1913 pin falls.
Kutcka leads the American women going into women’s team play on Wednesday and says she is working on improving her game.
“I didn’t pick up my spares (today),” she said. “I hit the first throw, but missed the spares.”
In future games, “it’s important that I maintain consistency or improve,” she said.
Kutcka’s teammates are optimistic about her chances of qualifying for Master’s play Friday. Qualification is based on a bowler’s cumulative pin falls in Deaflympic competition.
“Based on her singles and doubles score, she has a chance to be pulled into the Master’s,” Joshua Dalton said.
Head coach Ed Abakumoff maintained faith in his team.
“I would not have picked them if they didn't know how to bowl,” he said. “They know how. They’ve had success in the past.”
Abakumoff stressed that all the team has to do going forward is to “forget about what happened previously, don’t worry about what’s going to happen and to remember that they only (have) control of now.”
The men return to play Tuesday in team play, beginning at 9 a.m. (2 a.m. ET) at the Mega Xtreme Bowling Center in Sofia.
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