CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — The last time the Lady Railsplitters were on the lanes two weekends ago, they saw improvement from the first day of competition to the last.
It was the perfect way to cap a strong field at the Mid-Winter Invitational with a 3-0 Sunday, and a wave of momentum the Lincoln Memorial University women's bowling team has used to get back in the swing of competition.
"I think it's indicative of what our philosophy is," LMU Director of Bowling
Joseph Slowinski said. "Friday, Jan. 11, I didn't expect much going in to be honest with such a long break (two months) from competition. We bowled poorly for what we are capable of and put us in a bad position — losing close matches to top teams was the highlight. We were very close to No. 5 Sam Houston State and No. 4 Arkansas State so we were really close to them, which was good, but we were not strong mentality against the weaker teams that we should have beaten. We got better on Saturday, Jan. 12, by 10 pins per game and on Sunday, Jan. 13, we were 10 pins higher than that.
"So from Friday to Sunday, we improved 20 pins per game and that itself Is what our philosophy has always been — improve our ability to make the shots we need to make and be aware and commit to the process of what we are trying to accomplish with our strategy. I expect more of that. The only difference is I expect a higher level from the beginning. We'll be in a position where we may have stronger matches, which makes it more difficult to have a perfect Sunday, but I'd rather have competitive matches on Sunday than to go for wins. That's our strategy."
No. 15 LMU will take that strategy next to Brunswick Zone Chesterfield Lanes in a suburb outside of St Louis, Mo., for the 12-team, three-day Saints Invite. The Lady Railsplitters will begin with five baker games at 9:40 a.m. Friday followed by five traditional games at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, and then wrap up with the Championship Sunday best 4-of-7 format at 8:30 a.m.
This is a smaller tournament field than what the Lady Railsplitters are used to seeing, but the level of competition hasn't taken a step down. Invited by host and No. 22 Maryville University: No. 1 McKendree, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 12 Wisconsin Whitewater, No. 24 Central Missouri along with Valparaiso, Drury, Lewis, North Central, Kentucky Wesleyan and Lincoln College.
In a smaller field, the Lady Railsplitters don't focus on any certain opponent but zone in on themselves and the situations that could occur. In that game plan, LMU is prepped and prepared for the best-and-worst case scenarios.
"We focus on lane play primarily and what we are going to do," Slowinski said. "If we match up and bowl well, then we have a chance to win the match. Also, to get maximum pins for the overall pin tally to get high so we have a competitive match on Sunday and actually end up higher in the field. Our goal is we'll have a plan and implement that plan at practice [Thursday]. Normally, it's a multi-tiered strategy to see what the options are for us because once you begin, you're the victim of whoever bowled in front of you.
"The lane condition moves; it's depleted on the pattern and that creates friction zone that could be good or bad. We practice playing any possible lines that we would need to do so we are mentally prepared to do what we need to do. This pattern — it's a longer pattern of 44 feet — it'll tend to play a certain way. To be honest, I feel very strong about our capacities of playing the zones and lines that we need to do."
