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Samantha Ehrler
  • elementary education
  • Class of 2019
  • Sun Prairie, WI

Sun Prairie Native Ehrler to Compete for UW-Whitewater Bowling in 2016-17

2016 Oct 19

Samantha Ehrler, a native of Sun Prairie, WI, and graduate of Sun Prairie High School, is a member of the 2016-17 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater bowling team, which begins its 2016-17 season this weekend at Valparaiso's Crusader Classic.

Ehrler, a sophomore at UW-Whitewater, is majoring in elementary education.

The Warhawks, who barely missed out on a berth into the eight-team NCAA Championship a year ago despite being ranked among the nation's top 10 all season, begin the new campaign ranked ninth by the National Tenpin Coaches Association in the organization's all division poll.

UW-Whitewater began practice last week and held tryouts over the weekend. The team is comprised of four seniors, four juniors, five sophomores and nine freshmen.

Senior Amanda Van Duyn (Kenosha, Wis./Bradford), the 2015-16 NTCA Division II/III Player of the Year and third team All-American, looks to help lead UW-Whitewater to its fourth NCAA Tournament bid in the last five years.

"We have a really young team again this year," Van Duyn, a four-year starter, said, "but I think we have a really good chemistry, maybe the best in my four years here. A lot of the girls coming back have worked really hard, and some of the freshmen have already improved a ton."

Fellow senior Taylor Hoppe (Rockford, Ill./Thomas Jefferson), who enters her third year as a varsity starter, joins Van Duyn as a third-year captain.

Hoppe said the team reinforces its single goal - to win a national championship - each day.

"We have a big sign in our locker room that says 'National Champions 2017', and every day, the girls are supposed to sign it," Hoppe said. "It is a team goal that we want to complete this year.

"I think we're more focused this year. At our end-of-the-year meeting last year, we agreed that (a national championship) was the one thing we wanted as a team."

Van Duyn reinforced the team's consistent message.

"We all have that one common goal this year," Van Duyn said. "Not making it (to the NCAA Championship) last year was real hard, and we don't want to go through that again.

"This year, the only goal we have is a national championship. There is nothing else."

Destinee Kafka (Rockford, Ill./Guilford) and Ashleigh Miller (Zion, Ill./Zion-Benton Township) comprise the rest of the team's senior class. Both Kafka and Miller are four-year members of the team who were a part of UW-Whitewater's national third place finishes in 2014 and 2015.

Juniors Karissa Gonio (Algonquin, Ill./Dundee-Crown), Ashley Kouba (Burbank, Ill./Reavis), Jodi Newhauser (Campbellsport, Wis./St. Mary's Springs) and Sarah Paasch (Sheboygan, Wis./North) also return as upperclassmen. Kouba, Newhauser and Paasch each bring previous varsity experience.

Other returners includes sophomores Brett Butschke (Watertown, Wis./Watertown), Samantha Ehrler (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie), Emma Kuhn (Texas City, Texas/Texas City), Lauren Price (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and Alex Sullivan (Round Lake, Ill./Grant). Kuhn and Price earned varsity playing time a season ago.

After this weekend's season-opening tournament in Indiana, the Warhawks head to the FDU Jamboree in North Brunswick, N.J., on Oct. 28-30.

The team closes the calendar year by hosting the Warhawk Classic on Nov. 11-13 at Sheridan Lanes in Kenosha. Thirteen nationally ranked teams are currently scheduled to compete in the three-day tournament, including No. 1 Nebraska and defending national champion Stephen F. Austin.

UW-Whitewater begins in the New Year on Jan. 20-22 at the Kutztown (Pa.) Invitational. The team continues play in back-to-back weeks at the SFA Lady Jacks Invitational (Feb. 10-12) and Valpo Invitational (Feb. 17-19) before taking part in Nebraska's Big Red Invitational on March 2-4.

The Warhawks compete in the United States Bowling Congress Sectionals on March 11-12 and Vanderbilt's Music City Classic on March 17-19.

The NCAA Championship is scheduled for April 13-15 at River Center Baton Rouge in Baton Rouge, La.

The USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships, also in Baton Rouge, are April 19-22. UW-Whitewater qualified for the USBC's national tournament last season after placing second at the USBC's Addison (Ill.) Sectional.