CROYDON, Pa. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's bowling team found it tough sledding in snowy Croydon, Pennsylvania, Saturday, dropping four of five traditional team matches to nationally-ranked teams on the second day of action at the Northeast Invitational. The 20th-ranked Lady Railsplitters (30-32) opened the day by falling to No. 21 Adelphi University before faltering against tournament host and 19th-ranked Sacred Heart University inside the Bristol Pike Lanes.
 
Delaware State, 14th in the nation, and No. 6 Maryland-Eastern Shore provided LMU's last two losses of the day before the Lady Railsplitters righted the ship and topped Howard University.
 
LMU, 4-6 overall in tournament play, opened sluggish against Adelphi and dropped the match 931-795 in total pins. Rebounding a bit against Sacred Heart behind Tyra Sanchez' 220 game, the Lady Railsplitters fell 918-860.
 
Sanchez, a junior from Honolulu, Hawai'i, continued with the hot hand, rolling a 211 in the third match of the day against 14th-ranked Delaware State. However, her effort wasn't enough to stave off another setback, this time by a 914-888 score. LMU took a hot-rolling sixth-ranked Maryland-Eastern Shore squad to the 10th frame in the fourth match of the day before succumbing by a 954-934 pinfall total. Bayamón, Puerto Rico, freshman Sofia Colon bowled a 206 game in the match and got ample support from Jacksonville, Florida, senior Marisol Dodson with a 199 and Sayreville, New Jersey, senior Mary-Kate Kersting, who rolled a 194.
 
In the final match of the day against unranked Howard, Dodson led the way with a 204 score powering the Lady Railsplitters to a commanding 863-786 victory.
 
Averaging a 177.7 game score over its first 10 matches of the three-day event, LMU owns a pinfall total of 8,883 to sit in 17th place among a 26-team field entering Sunday's three rounds of best 4-of-7 bracket play Baker matches. Sanchez finished 45th in the individual standings among 172 total bowlers, averaging a 181.6 game score and totaling 908 pins across Saturday's traditional team matches. Dodson placed 53rd with 892 total pins and a 178.4 game average while Kersting was 93rd with a pinfall total of 714 and a 178.5 average across four individual games.
 
Top-ranked McKendree University leads the tournament featuring 17 top-25 teams, including three of the nation's top five, seven of the top 10 and 10 of the top 15, with a pinfall total of 9,776. Fifth-ranked and 2018 NCAA champion Vanderbilt is second with 9,563 total pins, followed by No. 2 Sam Houston State (9,497) third, host and 19th-ranked Sacred Heart (9,429) fourth and No. 11 Louisiana Tech (9,414) fifth.
 
Earning the 17th seed for Sunday's best 4-of-7 Baker matches, the Lady Railsplitters take on 18th-seeded Medaille College in the opening round of bracket play at 8:25 a.m.
 
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