“They get more meaningful when you don’t know if it’s the last chance,” Pluhowsky, 43, said. “We didn’t know about the all-events medals until the end of the trip, so it was a nice bonus and helped me to 50 medals overall.”
Team USA’s Julia Bond, Breanna Clemmer, Bryanna Cote, Jillian Martin, Lauren Russo and Pluhowsky knew a medal was guaranteed after qualifying to the women’s team semifinals. But the road to the gold would not be an easy one.
The third-seeded Americans were quickly put to the test by second-seeded Korea which took the first game, in the best-of-three Baker match, 257-234. Team USA rallied to win the next two games to earn a spot in the gold medal match.
Top-seeded Malaysia took the first game in the championship match, 191-179, but Team USA evened the contest with a 200-159 win in Game 2. In a tightly contested decider, Team USA edged out the top seeds 199-185 to take the gold.
“Four of us bowled together in January, so being able to build on the success we had in the team event then was nice,” Pluhowsky said. “The formats of each event made things difficult, but overall bowling was good.”
The team gold also propelled the Americans to the top of the team standings as they also finished as the overall women’s federation champions. The win also contributed to Pluhowsky’s all-events ranking and secured the silver medal for the Dayton bowler.
While the medals were welcome, the experience was also priceless personally for Pluhowsky who was able to travel with two of her children and her mom to Hong Kong for the tournament. With medals in hand, the longtime Team USA bowler was excited to return home to the rest of her family.
“I am happy to be home with the little ones and Carrie,” she said. “They are at such a fun age and Londyn started walking a couple days after we left.”
And Christmas family festivities, not gold medals, are now Pluhowsky’s focus.
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