No. 19 Tulane Bowling Hosts Colonial Lanes Classic
The 19th-ranked Tulane University bowling team wraps up its fall slate this weekend by hosting the annual Colonial Lanes Classic. The three-day tournament takes place at Colonial Lanes in Harahan, Louisiana, and begins on Friday, November 21. The event will be streamed on the Tulane YouTube page.
The event features a stacked field with 16 total teams, 11 of which are ranked in the top 25, including Tulane. The other ranked programs are No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 4 Youngstown State, No. 5 Wichita State, No. 6 Arkansas State, No. 7 North Carolina A&T, No. 8 Sam Houston, No. 9 Louisiana Tech, No. 12 Duquesne, and No. 18 UAB. The unranked teams rounding out the field are Texas Southern, Florida A&M, Jackson State, Southern, and Prairie View A&M.
Admission is free for fans wishing to attend in person. The first two days will feature giveaways for fans, with the first 25 fans on Friday receiving free hats. On Saturday, the first 25 fans will get a free license plate frame. On Sunday, Tulane’s two senior bowlers, Mia Stolakis and Emma Fetterman, will be recognized prior to the start of competition, and an awards ceremony will be held shortly after play concludes in the afternoon.
The Colonial Lanes Classic dates back to 2013 and has been held 11 times. Stephen F. Austin won the inaugural event, and Sam Houston holds the most victories with four. Tulane claimed the crown for the first time in 2016. Vanderbilt is the reigning champion after collecting 10,207 pins in last year’s event.
So far on the season Tulane is 24-15 with an RPI rank of 24. The Wave has nine total top-25 triumphs with five of them coming against top-10 competition. Stolakis and Fetterman currently lead the team with 181 and 150 strikes, respectively. Fetterman is one of the top anchor bowlers in the country this season, posting a 96.3 10th frame fill percentage. Linnea Holcomb is a top Baker bowler with a 3.6 split leave percentage in Baker matches this season, the lowest mark in the nation.
The Wave last competed two weeks ago in the Bulldog Classic, hosted by No. 9 Louisiana Tech in Fort Worth, Texas. Tulane placed eighth with an 8-5 overall record and 13,036 total pins knocked down. The Wave amassed three ranked wins with two against top-10 foes. Stolakis and Fetterman led the way for Tulane with both placing in the top 15. Stolakis was 14th with 1,061 pins, and Fetterman was 15th with 1,058.
Play begins on Friday morning as the teams will play five sets of five Baker matches. Saturday will see teams play five traditional matches. The competition concludes on Sunday with the bracket portion of the event as teams will play three rounds in the best-of-seven Baker format. Tulane opens against Jackson State. Competition ramps up from there with each of the four remaining opponents being ranked. The Wave will face No. 8 Sam Houston, No. 4 Youngstown State, No. 12 Duquesne, and No. 6 Arkansas State.
With the fall slate coming to a close, the program takes a break during December before returning to competition in January. Tulane gets back in action with the SWIBC V and VI tournaments on January 17 and 18 in Plano, Texas.
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.