After being ranked 19th in the initial National Tenpin Coaches Association rankings for the 2020-21 season, the same spot it finished last season in, the Tulane women’s bowling team has high hopes for itself. The Green Wave, who play in the Southland Bowling League, will face stiff competition this year, as seven teams in its league are ranked in the top 20. Head coach Hayley Vitch embraces the high ranking, as she and the rest of the team “look forward to the challenge of improving upon the preseason ranking.”

The Green Wave kicked off its season with the Louisiana Tech Classic, held on Nov. 6-8. Facing difficult competition, including four teams ranked in the top ten nationally, the olive and blue held its own, finishing in a respectable fifth place. The team was paced by freshman Morgan Gitlitz, who had a 207.25 average to earn herself a sixth-place finish at the tournament. Junior Crystal Singh and senior Madison McCall also put in solid performances. McCall received All-Southland Second Team honors last season and will hope to build on this promising performance to open the season.

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With their first tournament of the season down, the Green Wave women's bowling team is hoping to match the success of previous seasons, such as their strong performance at last year's Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Bowling Invitational pictured here.

 The team has one more tournament before the holiday break, when they will travel to Houston, Texas, for the TRACK Kat Klash, which is being hosted by the winners of the Louisiana Tech Classic, Sam Houston State. In the spring, the Green Wave will return to action with five more competitions, with the regular season ending March 19-21. If the team is unable to secure the league’s automatic NCAA tournament bid, it will hope to earn an at-large bid. New Orleans will be hosting the regional NCAA championships, so if the team can make it to the postseason, it will hopefully feel invigorated enough to make a deep run in its home city.

 There’s always the chance that the team’s season will once again be disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but Veitch is confident the team will be able to battle through whatever obstacles are thrown its way. While Veitch reaffirmed that safety is the most important thing right now, she’s optimistic at the team’s prospects, as “the additional time has allowed the team to prepare and work on more items than [they] have in the past.

 With the Green Wave competing in one of the toughest leagues in all of collegiate bowling, Tulane will have put its best performances forward all season long. But if McCall, Singh, and Gitlitz can continue to perform the way they did last week, there’s no doubt the Green Wave could end up much higher in the final polls.