Strike!

Alyssa Surges finishes with 211. Dunkin rolls 202. Falk bowls 238 and, because of her small stature, seems to disappear when her teammates congratulate her. "Nice game, Mandy!" Cox calls from the bleachers. "I can't see you, but maybe you can hear me."

After senior Sam Swanson completes a 158, Caldwell rolls the Jennies' final frame. It's a strike. After another strike and a nine in the bonus, she registers 224.

Final score: Central Missouri, 1033; Vanderbilt, 944.

The day finished, the players from the six teams pack their equipment and dress for the cold. The Jennies seem displeased that they lost three matches. But the Vanderbilt game is encouraging.

"Finally, there at the end, they decided they wanted to wake up and try to make an effort," Holmes says. "When they do that, they can play with anybody. When they don't, we're very average."

Caldwell says her game improved when she got angry. "I bowl better when I'm mad," she says. "I was just fed up of struggling, when it wasn't that hard of a shot. It was pretty playable. So I just told myself, 'Hey, it's not hard. Just go out and play. Go bowl.'"

The team planned to gather that night at Caldwell's house off-campus. Her family was making tacos and rice. "We actually make Mexican food, since we're Mexican," Monica Caldwell says.

Today's matches began at 1 p.m. At 6:30, Munguia and other relatives are still waiting for the players to emerge from a postgame meeting in Coach Holmes' office.

As the loved ones wait, the bowling alley reopens to the public. Two young couples set up on Lane 10. One of the women is the first to bowl. She rolls two gutter balls.