The end of semester crunch is here.

Final exams are not the only thing in store for the Penn State women's club bowling team as the term comes to an end.

Tomorrow the club will head to Rockford, Ill., for the National Intercollegiate Bowling Championship, held tomorrow through Saturday. Penn State hopes for a strong finish to an already successful season.

"We want to be competitive," Penn State co-captain Sherisa Brammer said.

"We don't want to get blown out of the water. We want to do our best."

By focusing on accuracy and bowling clean games, Brammer said the team should be able to achieve its goal.

After winning three of four American Heartland Conference matches, which locked up the team's conference championship, Penn State earned a free entry into the IBC Eastern Region Sectional Qualifier in Allentown. A third-place finish secured a trip to compete with the best, with the top four teams receiving bids for the national competition.

"We went in with a mindset that we were going to make it and when it was over we felt relieved," Brammer said.

Inexperience was the team's biggest obstacle this season, according to Brammer and fellow co-captain Torrey Leitzell. With only senior Jennifer McDowell and a handful of others having more than a year of collegiate bowling experience, youth was definitely a concern all season. But as proven by freshman Laurel Harris, being young does not mean being a non-factor, as Harris finished the regular season ranked 11th in the rookie standings.

The junior co-captains of the team are ranked in the top tier of collegiate bowlers, with Brammer ranked 17th and Leitzell ranked 27th in the national standing. Both Harris and Jennifer McDowell received American Heartland Intercollegiate Bowling Conference (AHIBC) honorable mentions, and Leitzell, the AHIBC Conference Most Valuable Bowler.

Although a young team, Penn State's two captains said the team could do amazing things, proven by the fact that it is ranked 18th in the country.

"It's definitely a team effort," Leitzell said.

They push each other and make each other better, Leitzell said. They must work together, literally. Bowling is usually thought of as an individual sport; the women's team, however, competes in a unique style of play: Baker's Style. Five bowlers compete in 10 frames, bowling two frames each.

"In the world of college bowling, Penn State is a no-name school," Brammer said.

"There wasn't enough women to have a team two years ago," Leitzell said, "and the team hasn't been to nationals since 1989."

The sport has come a long way and the Penn State women are excited about their chances to compete with the top teams in the country.

Some have competed in these leagues since grade school. Brammer and Leitzell even competed against each other and never knew it until meeting on the team.

Both of the co-captains agreed in the degree of difference from her leagues at home to bowling at the collegiate level. The spirit and the level of excitement are not what one thinks of when one thinks of a bowling match.

"It's so loud," Leitzell said.

Even if wishing for the end of April brings finals all that closer. Not unexpected, the team cannot wait to compete with some of the toughest competition in the country.