ROCHESTER, NY – The Roberts Wesleyan University Bowling team is coming off a successful season with a strong finish at the East Coast Conference (ECC) Tournament in the Spring and hopes to build off that success with another run toward a conference championship in 2025-26. The journey begins this weekend at the Mercyhurst Invitational Tournament in Pennsylvania.
The Redhawks have a solid returning group of seasoned players from a year ago and a strong recruiting class should bolster the lineup and help the team be competitive from the start of the season and continue the growth of the program.
Here are Five Things you should know about the Roberts Women's Bowling team:
MOTIVATED BY LAST SEASON'S STRONG FINISH
Although the loss in the ECC Tournament Championship match was disappointing at the time, the experience of making the run to the title match and the exciting finish provided the necessary fuel to ignite the energy behind the preparation for the coming season.
"Our finish last season definitely gives us motivation for the season," said Head Coach Marion Sullivan. "We have four players returning that all contributed to the success down the stretch and in the ECC Tournament."
It is a long season that starts in October and lasts all the way to March.
"They understand that the season is a marathon not a sprint," said Sullivan. "We just need to keep improving every week and get into a groove. They know that if they work hard, they will see he results when it matters."
THE ROSTER HAS A GOOD BALANCE OF YOUTH AND EXPERIENCE
The Redhawks have players in each class with four returning players that all played key roles in the run to the ECC Tournament title match.
"We have good balance with a senior, two juniors and a sophomore that all had great seasons last year," said Sullivan. "They are hungry and confident. They know what it takes to get to the championship match and if we keep learning and growing, we will be better than last year at the end of the season."
The team graduated three players and had some spots to fill on the roster making the offseason one of the most important recruiting years ever at Roberts.
"I'm not sure we have had a better group of freshmen," said Sullivan. "They are experienced having played in local, state and national tournaments with a lot of pressure situations. I am very happy with the group and they are even better than I expected."
SUCCESS AT THE END OF THE SEASON DEPENDS ON THE GROWTH DURING THE SEASON
The long season is a test for all bowling teams but a balanced schedule with a combination of dual matches and tournaments is very important to the growth of the team as the players find a way to work better together to win the important tournament matches at the end of the season.
"We start at Mercyhurst and have a mix of duals and tournaments in the first half of the season," said Sullivan. "I like the balance in the schedule and we will be competing against the ranked teams in the region right from the start."
After a good start to the season, the team takes an extended break for the holidays and returns with competitions in January for the final preparation for postseason action.
"In the second have of the season, we have a couple nice tournament in the Buffalo area and host the Roc City Classic before ending the regular season at Pitt Bradford. We should be in great shape and ready for the ECC Tournament when the time comes."
THE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT FORMAT COULD WORK IN FAVOR OF THE REDHAWKS
The head coaches and administration of the ECC made some necessary changes to the format of the conference tournament to be more in line with the NCAA Regional and Championship tournament formats.
"The format of the ECC Tournament has changed this year with Baker best-of-seven games on the first day and mega match competition on day two," said Sullivan. "The seeding for the tournament will be more important this year."
ROBERTS IS RANKED THIRD IN THE ECC PRESEASON POLL
The conference preseason coaches' poll was released this week and Roberts was listed in the No. 3 position. Defending champion Kutztown University was at the top of the poll with 77 points and six first-place votes and Bryant University was second with 72 points and two first-place votes. The Redhawks received one first-place vote and had 60 points to place third in the poll.
Molloy University (54 points) was next followed by Adelphi University and St. Anselm University tied with 35 points each, D'Youville University (29), Daemen University (28) and St. Thomas Aquinas College (15) rounding out the preseason poll.
"We were happy to see the improvement to the No. 3 spot in the preseason poll but I thought we could have been a little bit higher especially after a strong finish last year and a solid group returning that all contributed to that success. We are excited to get started and getting the recognition from the other coaches is great. We know what we need to do to get better and show that we can compete for a conference title."
