For the second year in a row, the bowling coaches of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference have selected William Smith senior Michaela Morgan as the preseason Player of the Year. The 2024-25 AMCC runners-up, the Herons were again picked to finish second in the preseason coaches poll.
 
Morgan was the 2023-24 and 2024-25 AMCC Bowler of the Year. She guided William Smith to its first AMCC Championship and NCAA Championship bid in 2024. Last season, Morgan was the top-ranked AMCC bowler in PCPI and led the league in pins per frame (19.371) and Baker pins per frame (20.343). She led the team with 357 strikes.
 
This season will mark William Smith's fourth varsity season. The Herons are coming off a 40-44 season that saw them finish second to Saint Vincent in the 2025 AMCC Championship match. The Herons lost the mega match to the Bearcats 2-1. William Smith won the traditional portion of the match, but lost the Baker 917-913 and were swept in the best of seven 4-0.
 
Head Coach Heather Sterner, who earned a share of her second straight AMCC Coach of the Year award in 2025, returns seven bowlers from last season, including Morgan and junior Colleen Jump, who earned All-AMCC first team and second team honors, respectively. Jump, the 2024 AMCC and Division III National Rookie of the Year, was second on the team averaging 17.6 pins per frame.
 
Senior Caitlyn Anschutz and sophomore Brooke Gervais also averaged more than 17 pins per frame for William Smith last season. Anschutz (17.4 pins/frame) was third on the team with 229 strikes, while Gervais (17.57) was fourth with 197 strikes.
 
The Herons also welcome one new face to the lineup, first-year Natalie Yale from Maine-Endwell High School. She bowled a pair of perfect games last season for the Spartans.
 
William Smith opens the season, Oct. 4-5, when it competes in the Mercyhurst Invitational in Erie, Pennsylvania.