New Castle, Del. (October 9, 2021) – The Mount St. Mary's bowling team opened their season on an impressive note, going 5-0 on the day and capturing the title at the Bud Whitman Memorial Baker Tournament. The five wins came against Caldwell, Kutztown, Wilmington, Chestnut Hill and Felician.
 
Senior Rebecca Dodson led the team fresh off her second consecutive All-American season, tallying a 21.16 baker frame average. Junior Amanda Yeung also supplied plenty of scoring for the Mountaineers with a baker frame average of 20.61. Freshman Rachel Hines had an 18.19 frame average in her collegiate debut and senior Tamera Stanton (18.45) and sophomore Alyssa Alexander (18.03) rounded out the scoring effort.
 
Saturday's success marks the second time the Mount has won this tournament. The 2018-19 won the title on their first-ever day of competition.
 
Mount: 880 | Caldwell: 819
 
The Mount started their season with a low scoring win, edging out former NEC member Caldwell 880-819 to start the season 1-0. A strong finish with games of 199 and 186 aided in the victory.
 
Mount: 1,006 | Kutztown: 767
 
Picking up the scoring pace in match two, the Mount used a 233 middle game to highlight their first 1,000 set of the season and improving to 2-0 overall. Along with the 233 effort was a clean game of 213, helping the Mount lead by 200-plus after the third game.
 
Mount: 952 | Wilmington: 947
 
Down 77 pins entering the final game, the Mount utilized a strong 234 game to overcome a 152 from the Wildcats and improve to 3-0 in dramatic fashion. It came down to the final frame, with Dodson sparing across from a Wilmington open to close the door.
 
Mount: 969 | Chestnut Hill: 778
 
The Mount would improve to 4-0 after a near 200-pin convincing victory over the Griffins. The winning effort was aided in large part to a 234 game five, and another clean sheet in the opener for a 208.
 
Mount: 1,022 | Felician: 939
 
A fast 221 start helped the Mountaineers overcome a 244 and 218 game from Felician in games three and five. The Mount kept all five games over 190 for a 1,022 set and their most consistent scoring match of the day.
 
"As expected on day one of any season, there are a lot of areas we see need for improvement," said head coach Kenneth DeGraaf. "That being said, the end result of going undefeated at 5-0 and capturing the tournament crown is the best possible outcome to start our season. We will see all these teams again tomorrow and we know all of them will want to even the score against us, so we need to bring an even higher scoring effort if we want to repeat. I am proud of these ladies for always having an answer to the punches thrown their way. The energy was high."
 
The Mount will compete tomorrow in the Bud Whitman Traditional tournament, featuring five traditional matches against the same teams they played today. Competition will start at 9:30 AM ET and will be live streamed on the team's Facebook page.