JONESBORO, Ark. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's bowling team kicked off 2017 with an 837-744 win over the No. 9 nationally-ranked Monmouth Hawks in the first game of the Mid-Winter Invitational this past weekend at the Jonesboro Bowling Center, notching the program's first-ever win against a top-10 opponent.
The Mid-Winter Invitational featured eight of the nation's top-10 ranked programs and the Lady Railsplitters went on to post a 3-1 record on the opening day of that event, pairing that landmark win over Monmouth with victories over Alabama State 820-795 and Jackson State 941-779. Lincoln Memorial's lone loss of the day came against the No. 1 team in the country, Arkansas State, who hosted the tournament.
"To post our first win over a top-10 program while being strong for the rest of the day illustrates our potential to build a nationally-competitive program here at LMU," said Director of Bowling Joe Slowinski. "The women responded well when I challenged them over the weekend."
The Lady Railsplitters showed promise all weekend long. On day two, Lincoln Memorial opened with an 867-791 win over Drury before losing to Louisiana Tech 892-808. The Lady Railsplitters followed that up by nearly pulling off a stunning upset in a 928-904 loss to No. 6 Vanderbilt, which came down to the final shots from the anchor bowlers in the 10th frame. The Lady Railsplitters lost another nail biter against No. 5 Stephen F. Austin 904-854, but bounced back with a commanding 941-797 win over No. 24 Valparaiso.
"We were close to knocking off two additional top-10 teams, which is very exciting," said Slowinski. "To respond with a decisive win over a top-25 team after nearly defeating two top-10 teams shows our potential to be a very good team this season."
Sabrina Fautheree led the way for the Lady Railsplitters on day two by averaging 181.6 for five games, finishing tied for 25th overall out of the 114 participants. She finished with a 78% fill-the-frame rate and a 40% strike rate, leading to an 18.16 averaged frame in the team portion of the event.
In addition to Fautheree's strong showing, freshman
Marisol Dodson finished 37th, transfer
Danyn Terry placed 38th, freshman
Mary Kate Kersting was 40th and freshman
McCayla Donna finished 45th.
On Sunday, the Lady Railsplitters went the distance in all of their best-of-seven Baker matches, winning 4-3 against Jackson State, losing 4.5-2.5 against No. 24 Valparaiso and losing 4-3 to Maryville.
All told, Lincoln Memorial ended the weekend in 12th place with a 6-6 record, moving to 15-34 on the season. After starting the season 4-21, the Lady Railsplitters have recovered to go 11-13 over the past two events. Lincoln Memorial has made that improvement while competing in strong fields that often feature most of the top 25.
"We have come a long way since the start of the year and I am very proud of these young women," said Slowinski.
The Lady Railsplitters will be back in action this weekend, when they travel to Reading, Pennsylvania to compete in the 28-team Kutztown Invitational.
