SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The women's bowling team turned in another outstanding performance finishing 13^th out of 41 teams at the Blue & Gold Classic on Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 22-23). Competing in their first Tier 1 tournament of the year, the team got off to a great start shooting 941. In their second game, the team would shoot a 974 which is the team's highest team game this season as well as the highest team game bowled in program history. They would go on to shoot another good game of 917 before shooting a 832, 808 and capped off day 1 with another solid 902 game. After day one the team would sit in 11^th place averaging an 895.67 for six games.

In the second day of the tournament, the team struggled a bit shooting an 825, 886 and finishing the tournament with an 839. Freshmen Emily Gesell and Chelsea Essenmacher turned in their best performances of the season so far, averaging 195.89 and 181.56. Gesell in her first three games fired off a 235, 213, and 225 for a 673 series, which is the highest individual series bowled in program history. She would finish 11^th in a field of 272 bowlers.  Essenmacher placed 32^nd and sophomore Kristen Marcis with a 174.56 average finished in 55^th place. 

"This is by far the team's best performance so far this season," claimed head coach Jody Fetterhoff. "To finish 13^th in a field made up of fourteen teams all ranked in the top 25 in the nation, is outstanding. We not only finished higher than eight teams that are ranked in the top 30, but beat all but one of the teams in our conference. The team should make a pretty big jump in the rankings and this gives them a lot of confidence heading into our next conference tournament coming up on February 5."