The Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team fell to Central Missouri in a best-of-seven match that went all seven games on Saturday evening, ending the Knights run in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
FDU started off strong in the match, picking up the first two games. In the first game, Nichole Toto (Piscataway, New Jersey/Bishop George Ahr) and Joely Carrillo (Clifton, NJ/Paramus Catholic) posted back-to-back strikes to heat things up. Erica Perez (Carteret, New Jersey/Carteret) added a pair of strikes as well, helping Fairleigh Dickinson to a 185-152 victory.
In the first three frames of the second game, Tracy Ganjoin (Brick, NJ/Brick), Toto and Carrillo each cleared their frames on one ball to get the game rolling, but the two teams were tied after three frames with six strikes. The Knights were able to surge ahead, striking in seven frames as they posted their game-high for the match in a 220-194 win.
The Jennies fought back in the next two games, taking a very close third game, 180-172. CMU closed out the fourth game on a hot streak for a 221-184 victory, tying the match up, 2-2.
The Knights responded in the fifth game, sparked by two strikes from Toto, as they took a 208-179 win to get ahead in the match.
But Central Missouri put nothing but X's in the box from the fifth frame on in the sixth game for a 234-169 win, and again tied the match up, 3-3. The Jennies stayed hot and were able to take the deciding game, 235-171.
Central Missouri will meet up in the finals against Nebraska, which defeated Delaware State, at 8:00 p.m. televised live on ESPN2.
"I'd be crazy to be disappointed with the performance and end result of our team," said Head Coach Mike LoPresti. "Considering that just 12 months ago we were all sitting home watching the webcasts and title match, this team accomplished an incredible amount of success while maturing to become one of the nation's top squads. A third place finish in the nation would have been far beyond my wildest dreams back when the season started. "
"We greatly matured and improved exponentially since last season. Now we have gained valuable experience from this great finish, and that can only make us even better."
"We return all but one player from our roster for next season, so our expectations will certainly be high. Yet, with the level of competition getting tougher each season, we're still going to have our work cut out for us."
"I'd like to thank all of the families of the team for the exhuberant support they provided throughout the season. It always seemed like a home match wherever we went this season, especially here in Detroit, where we needed it the most."
