Oct. 21, 2008

FAIRFIELD, CT - Four-time NCAA Championship participant Sacred Heart stands as the coaches' preseason favorite to capture the first-ever Northeast Conference bowling crown. The 2008 ECAC champions garnered five first-place votes to finish ahead of former national champion Fairleigh Dickinson, which garnered the remaining two first-place nods, in a poll of the league's head coaches. The conference office released the poll result as a prelude to its inaugural campaign on the lanes.

Adelphi edged out Kutztown for third place in the voting followed by Saint Peter's in the fifth spot and St. Francis (NY) taking sixth. Embarking on its first season of competition since the program's founding earlier this year, Long Island rounds out the poll in seventh.

Sacred Heart and Fairleigh Dickinson have been, for the most part, perennial participants in the NCAA Championship. Each program has qualified for the national championship meet four times in the five-year history of NCAA Bowling, a claim that only four other programs (Nebraska, UMES, Central Missouri, and New Jersey City State) throughout the nation can make.

The Pioneers went 16-4 during NEWCBC match play last season and accounted for the highest pinfall in each of the four league meets. With a number of top performers returning, the Pioneers are looking for a similar result in their new home. Sophomore Sarah Pelletier (Lewiston, ME) returns off a banner rookie campaign. After finishing as the runner-up in the ECAC Singles Championship, Pelletier captured MVP honors for her efforts during the team portion of the championship meet. The lefty bowler produced the title meet's highest individual pinfall (1037 - 207.4 avg.) during team-game play to lead Sacred Heart on its way to the team crown. Pelletier, senior Jamie Manzo (Manalapan, NJ/Manalapan), and former Pioneer Amanda Lulu were three of just seven bowlers at the entire meet whose average exceeded 200 in the team game round.

Pelletier was at the center of an incredible second-half surge that saw the Pioneers post a 29-2 mark from the season's restart after Christmas Break through February's Mid-Winter Classic at Arkansas State. Sacred Heart went 14-1 in Arkansas to claim second place at the tournament, which featured A-List competition. Thanks to Pelletier's MVP effort, the Pioneers placed higher than two-time national champion Nebraska and 2007 NCAA champion Vanderbilt.

The loss of Lulu, who won the 2005 ECAC Singles Champion and earned ECAC All-Tournament Team honors last season, does not mean the Pioneers will be any less potent this season. Veteran head coach Becky Kregling, who has built an impressive resume during her bowling career as a player and coach, has a number of talented arms on her roster that only starts with Pelletier and Manzo. Junior Alice Kessler (West Babylon, NY), who owns a 279 high game, bowled a team-high 202 in a head-to-head victory over NCAA semifinalist New Jersey City State at the final conference meet. The victory helped to assure Sacred Heart the NEWCBC title. Sophomore Marissa Gagliardi (North Branford, CT) displayed her tremendous potential in bowling numerous 200-plus games in key spots, including all four conference bouts with rival FDU.