Pair of Tulane Bowlers to Represent No. 17 Wave at Team USA Trials
A pair of Green Wave bowlers will compete in the USBC Team USA Trials and U.S. Amateur this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sarah Rubi and Mia Stolakis are representing the 17th-ranked Tulane program January 2-7 at the Gold Coast Bowling Center.
The field features 175 women and 175 men all competing for spots on the respective women’s and men’s Junior Team USA and Team USA. The top four age-eligible finishers in the Team USA Trials will earn their way onto the 2026 USBC Team USA. Two more players will be selected from the pool of competitors at the national trials by the National Selection Committee.
Stolakis previously qualified for Junior Team USA in 2024 as a sophomore after placing sixth among U.S. amateurs (13th overall) in the 2024 team trials. She became the first Tulanian to qualify for Junior Team USA. As she aims to qualify once more in her senior campaign, Stolakis is joined in the field of competitors by her sister, Lexia.
The event began January 2nd with a practice day. The following five days will each feature a qualifying round of six games. The women’s qualifying rounds are set to begin at 3:00 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. CT) each day. On the final day, Wednesday, January 7, the U.S. Amateur Stepladder Finals will follow the completion of the fifth qualifying round. The top-three amateurs advance to the stepladder finals, and the 2026 Team USA roster will be officially announced after the finals.
More information on the 2026 Team USA Trials can be found here.
After competing in the national team trials, Rubi and Stolakis will return to the Green Wave squad to begin play in the spring portion of the season. Tulane returns to action on January 17 and 18 with the SWIBC V and VI in Plano, Texas.
Portions Courtesy Tulane Athletics
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.