Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne University women's bowling program has been slotted No. 12 in the 2025-26 National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTVA) Preseason Top 25, it was announced Wednesday. The Dukes, who closed last season ranked 14th, accrued 843 points in the preseason poll.
Duquesne is the highest of three teams from the Northeast Conference (NEC) to be ranked, with defending champion Fairleigh Dickinson (552) sitting 17th and Niagara (211) rounding out the poll at 25th. The Dukes made their first appearance in the final of the NEC Championship last year, falling to the Knights, 2-1.
Selected as the preseason No. 1 for the second consecutive year is Jacksonville State, which collected 14 first-place votes and 1,777 total points. Nebraska (1,702) is second, with Vanderbilt (1,680), Youngstown State (1,633) and Wichita State (1,540) rounding out the top five. The Penguins, the defending NCAA Champion, earned the most first-place votes in the poll with 16, with the Cornhuskers and Commodores each garnering seven first-place tallies.
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Arkansas State (1,448), North Carolina A&T (1,352), Sam Houston State (1,272), Louisiana Tech (1,174) and Maryville (1,136) concludes the top 10 of the 2025 NTCA preseason poll, while Sacred Heart (996) sits one spot ahead of Duquesne at No. 11. Eight of the top 10 programs ranked in the preseason top 25 as well as nine of the top 11 hail from Conference USA.
Led by head coach
Jody Fetterhoff, the only head coach in program history, the Dukes welcome back four bowlers from a 2024-25 squad that finished with an overall record of 58-47 (.552), including a ledger of 15-9 (.625) in the NEC. Duquesne has been ranked in every NTCA Top 25 poll dating back to 2018, a span of 40 consecutive polls.
The Dukes will be led this season by senior
Emma Siekierski and junior
Maribeth Baker, each of whom advanced to bracket play this past spring
at the U22 Queens Tournament in Allen Park, Mich., at Thunderbowl. Siekierski was named to the 2025 All-NEC First Team and owns a career average of 184.0 in traditional play, while Baker was selected as the 2024 NEC Rookie of the Year and ranks fourth in program history entering her third season on the Bluff with a career average of 198.3.
Duquesne opens its 2025-26 campaign for the third straight year as well as the fourth time in the last five seasons with the Penguin Classic in Struthers, Ohio, at Holiday Bowl. The tournament runs Friday, Oct. 17, through Sunday, Oct. 19, and is hosted by defending national champion Youngstown State.
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