HARROGATE, Tenn. – A quintet of bowlers took a chance with Lincoln Memorial University in the spring of 2016 as the school offered women's bowling for the first time. Those same five entrusted then newly appointed Director of Bowling Joseph Slowinski to lead them throughout their four-year careers as both students and athletes. As the Lady Railsplitters begin their 2019-20 journey this weekend in Harahan, Louisiana, near New Orleans at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Invitational, the five-bowler senior class will compete confidently knowing they helped build the LMU women's bowling program from the ground up.
 
"We are incredibly excited to get the 2019-20 season underway," commented Director of Bowling Slowinski. "Our depth is at an all-time high and we have our first senior class, we all want to do well this year for them."
 
Entering their fourth year of existence, the Lady Railsplitters have emerged as a national power. In the program's third season in 2018-19, LMU earned wins over traditional powerhouses Nebraska and Arkansas State, as well as claiming victories over McKendree and then reigning national champion Vanderbilt. Not to mention making their third-straight East Coast Conference Championship final, the Lady Railsplitters finished the season near the top nationally in multiple statistical categories across all NCAA women's bowling divisions. LMU ranked third in 10th frame Baker double-strike percentage (30.58%), third in set-up strike percentage (48.91%), sixth in overall strike percentage (44.9%), seventh in Baker double percentage (44.89%) and eighth in overall scoring (192.2). In the final National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) Top 25 poll, the Lady Railsplitters ranked 16th among all NCAA Divisions as LMU was fourth in Division II and III bowling.
 
This fall, winter and spring, the Lady Railsplitters hope to accomplish much more as coach Slowinski and the team wants to send out the first senior class properly.
 
"We have dedicated the 2019-20 season to our five seniors," spoke coach Slowinski. "They took a leap of faith to join a new program and I am extremely proud of the amazing young women they have become. From a personal perspective, I want this season to be our best to date as I want their full four-year experience to be the most it can be."
 
Those seniors, Marisol Dodson, Mary-Kate Kersting, Heather Trapp, Sabrina Fautheree and Hailie Savoie will lead a very experienced squad in 2019-20 with all of LMU's starters from a season ago returning, including five all-conference performers. The Lady Railsplitters bring back a trio of All-ECC First Team selections in juniors Christine Hansen, Justine Brookover and Tyra Sanchez, while returning All-ECC Second Team picks Dodson and Kersting.
 
Hansen, a native of Aalborg, Denmark, is the preseason ECC Bowler of the Year after garnering ECC Co-Bowler of the Year honors this past spring. She finished 2018-19 among the top bowlers in the nation in several statistical categories, including ranking second in 10th frame Baker fill percentage (90.3%), third in both 10th frame Baker average (21.973) and 10th frame Baker double-strike percentage (33.9%) and 11th in overall baker percentage (20.313). Hansen led the ECC in 10th frame Baker fill percentage, 10th frame Baker average and 10th frame Baker double-strike percentage as well, topping the league in Baker first ball 9+ percentage (74.8%) and anchor bowler 10th frame double percentage (33.9%).
 
Hailing from Parkersburg, West Virginia, Brookover ranked 29th nationally last year in traditional team game average (198.62) and was 32nd in player composite performance index (PCPI). She had a pair of top-10 individual finishes, placing eighth at the Mid-Winter Invitational and finishing seventh at the Sunshine State Winter Classic. Sanchez, a Honolulu, Hawaii, native, posted a 19.57 Baker frame average and a 19.38 traditional frame average in 2018-19 as she picked up individual runner-up honors at the Hawk Classic with her second NCAA career perfect 300 game.
 
A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Dodson also ranked among national leaders in traditional team game average with a 200.97 last season. She was named Saints Invite All-Tournament after finishing in fourth place in the individual standings with a six-game average of 224.33. Fellow senior Kersting, who hails from Sayerville, New Jersey, held a Baker double-strike percentage of 47.8, owned a Baker strike percentage of 45, recorded a Baker frame average of 19.34 and notched a traditional frame average of 19.03 last year.
 
Registering four top-six finishes during the winter and spring, LMU went 53-45 in matches overall throughout its 2018-19 schedule. The Lady Railsplitters turned in a pair of runner-up finishes at the Maryville University (Mo.) Saints Invite (Jan. 25-27) in St. Louis, Missouri, and the ECC Championship (March 22-24) in Reading, Pennsylvania, while gaining sixth place at the Stephen F. Austin/Sacred Heart Sunshine State Winter Classic (Feb. 8-10) in Orlando, Florida, and Nebraska's Big Red Invitational (March 1-3) in Lincoln, Nebraska.
 
Coach Slowinski and the team takes it day-by-day, trusting in the process, but LMU does expects much more in 2019-20.
 
"We don't like outcome prognostication as we are a very process oriented squad," said Slowinski. "Our goal is to be better each day of a tournament and improve over the course of the four tournaments in the first half of the season. Our best performance should be at the Hawk Classic in Millsboro, Delaware, as we have three consecutive weekends of tournaments to end the first segment."
 
"I do expect us to perform at a higher level more consistently," Slowinski continued. "Considering our performance level last season, ranked nationally in the top five and top 10 in performance statistics, we want to be better this season."
 
In addition to their veteran returners, the Lady Railsplitters will have plenty of new talent to mold this year. Freshmen Jada Bassette, Sofia Colon, Morgan Heitkamp and Alexa Poston join junior Texas Southern transfer Shania Carr as the team's five newcomers.
 
LMU's senior-driven squad begins its 2019-20 journey Friday at the seventh annual Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Invitational, entering competition as the No. 13 bowling team in the nation among all divisions and the fourth-best program in Division II and II according to the NTCA's preseason rankings. The three-day season-opening tournament hosted by Tulane at the Colonial Lanes features three of the top five teams in the nation, five of the top 10 and nine of the top 20.
 
Top-ranked Vanderbilt, in addition to reigning national champion and second-ranked Stephen F. Austin and No. 5 Sam Houston State, all from the Southland Bowling League, will be in attendance in the Pelican State. Also on the lanes with the Lady Railsplitters will be seventh-ranked Maryland-Eastern Shore, No. 8 North Carolina A&T, tournament host and 14th-ranked Tulane, No. 17 Louisiana Tech and 19th-ranked UAB. Alabama State, Grambling, Jackson State, Southern, Texas Southern, Tusculum and Valparaiso round out the 16-team field of competition.
 
Tusculum, who enters its inaugural year of women's bowling, joins LMU as the only two non-Division I bowling programs participating in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Invitational. Both programs are members of the ECC with the two schools being members of the South Atlantic Conference. This weekend will mark the first time in history LMU and Tusculum meet on the lanes with the Pioneers taking part in their first-ever ECC matchup.
 
Five, five-game Baker matches will take place Friday morning starting at 10:30 a.m. EST, followed by traditional team matches Saturday at 9:30 a.m. EST and best 4-of-7 bracket play Baker matches Sunday beginning at 9:30 a.m. EST to determine a tournament champion and team placements.
 
About NCAA Bowling
NCAA Bowling competes as a national collegiate sport, in which, all three divisions compete for one national championship. New this year, the NCAA committee will select 16 teams during the postseason selection process. Of those 16 teams, seven will receive automatic qualification from winning their conference championship (AMCC, CIAA, ECC, MEAC, NEC, Southland, SWAC) and the final nine teams will receive at‐large bids. The 16 teams will be seeded into four regional sites with the four regional champions moving on to the 2020 NCAA National Bowling Championship, held Thursday-Saturday, April 9‐11, 2020, at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan.
 
How to Follow
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Lady Railsplitter bowling throughout the 2019-20 season.