Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne University bowling team has been ranked No. 11 in the 2023-24 National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) Preseason Top 25. The Dukes, who finished the 2022-23 season ranked 12th, received 940 total points in the preseason poll.
The Dukes, who are coming off their second NCAA Championship bid in program history last season, are the highest of five programs from the Northeast Conference (NEC) to rank in the top 25 of the 2023-24 NTCA Preseason Top 25. Fairleigh Dickinson is ranked 15th, Sacred Heart sits 17th and Merrimack is 24th.
Led by head coach
Jody Fetterhoff, in her eighth season leading Duquesne and the reigning NEC Coach of the Year, the Dukes have been ranked in every NTCA Top 25 poll since February of 2018. In each of the last four years, Duquesne has concluded the season ranked 12th or better.
The Dukes, who earned a share of the 2023 NEC regular-season championship, will be bolstered by the return of five All-NEC performers. Graduate student
Kiearra Saldi and senior
Shannon Small each were named to the All-NEC First Team, senior
Brenna Gleim and junior
Ranelle Ulanday were tabbed to the All-NEC Second Team and
Emma Siekierski earned a spot on the All-NEC Rookie Team.
RELATED: Duquesne Announces 2023-24 Schedule (10/2/23)
Saldi, just the second bowler in program history to be named an All-American and a two-time Intercollegiate Singles Championships (ISC) qualifier (2022, 2023), enters her final season with the Dukes with a career average of 200.6, which ranks third in program history. Small, meanwhile, has maintained a career average of 200.7, which sits just ahead of Saldi.
Selected as the preseason No. 1 is Vanderbilt, which earned 51 first-place votes in accruing 2,248 points. Arkansas State, Nebraska, North Carolina A&T and Stephen F. Austin round out the preseason top five. The Red Wolves earned a trio of first-place votes, while Jacksonville State, ranked seventh in the preseason poll, earned a pair of first-place tallies.
Duquesne, which posted an overall record of 70-34 (.673) during the 2022-23 campaign, including a mark of 17-4 (.810) in the NEC, opens its 2023-24 campaign in Struthers, Ohio, with the Penguin Classic, hosted by Youngstown State, Friday, Oct. 13. The classic lasts three days at Holiday Bowl.
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