FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. — The first tournament for the Lincoln Memorial University women's bowling team has come to an end.
The No. 14 Lady Railsplitters went into the third and final day at the Bearcat Hammer Open in eighth place, and after battling in a three best-of-seven matches in the Sunday Championship, compiling 2,852 total pins, LMU finished in eighth out of 16 teams overall with a grand total of 12,119 pins and 5-8 record.
LMU bowled 65 games over the three-day weekend with a 186.40 average.
"For our first tournament back, I'm pleased with our performance," LMU Director of Bowling and Women's Head Coach
Joseph Slowinski said. "We had moments of excellence as well as some key things to work on for our next outing in two weeks in Milwaukee. Not a great win-loss record for the weekends,but our highs were high and show the potential of the team to continue the evolution of the program."
The No. 8-seeded Lady Railsplitters faced No. 7-seeded Arkansas State, who is the No. 5 team in the country, in the first round and fell in a 2-4 loss, 158-162, 139-186, 192-190, 183-151, 136-200 and 193-227.
LMU bounced back with a 4-0 sweep (236-201,183-154,219-196, 217-182) of No. 22 Maryville University in the next match before falling short in a 1-4 loss (143-166, 257-234, 204-207, 224-230, 168-180) to No. 21 Wisconsin Whitewater in the position round.
"After a slow start this morning versus Arkansas state, I challenged the team to increase focus and step up for the remainder of the day, which we did," Slowinski said. "We had a great performance against Maryville for the 4-0 sweep, then against Wisconsin Whitewater four of the five match games went to the 10th frame or last shot. We responded well and had a few unlucky breaks."
The Lady Railsplitters had three bowlers in the top 45 out of 100 bowlers, with
Justine Brookover and
Tyra Sanchez at No. 35 and No. 36, respectively, and
Mary-Kate Kersting at 44th.
LMU will have two weeks off before traveling to the Warhawk Classic in Milwaukee, Wis., Nov 9-11.
