ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson University women's bowling team fell in two disappointing matches at the Northeast Conference Championships at Parkway Lanes on Saturday, March 23. With losses to Sacred Heart University and New Jersey City University, the Knights were eliminated from championship play.
The Knights trailed in both matches but fought their way back to bring both matches down to the wire. After trailing 3-0, FDU fell to the Pioneers, 4-3, in a best-of-seven Baker match. The Gothic Knights of NJCU held a 3-1 lead over FDU before the Knights battled back to send the match to a tiebreaker, where they ultimately fell.
Among the top eight teams, the fifth and sixth seeds, Saint Francis University and Adelphi University, were the only two undefeated teams after two rounds.
As the top seed, the Knights faced eighth-ranked and 2012 NEC Tournament Champion Sacred Heart University in the first round for a best-of-seven Baker match.
The Pioneers took an early lead in game one with three consecutive strikes in the opening frames and maintained the lead to take a 234-138 win and go ahead 1-0 in the best-of-seven series. The teams began game two with similar results but two open frames midway though game two held FDU back from recording a high score. SHU moved to 2-0 in the match with a 180-161 win in game two.
Sacred Heart moved to 3-0 in game three with a 180-145 win, but the Knights would not back down. FDU fought back with a 188-144 win in game four to bring the match score to 3-1.
In game five, FDU amassed six consecutive strikes to end the game and took a 228-200 win and improved to 3-2 in the match. The Knights edged Sacred Heart, 202-192, on a strong 10th frame to even the score at three after six games.
After there were several open frames left from both teams to begin game seven, the Pioneers produced five strikes in the back end of the game to earn a 194-122 win and take the match victory 4-3.
The Knights moved down to the elimination bracket, while the Pioneers moved on to face Saint Francis University.
FDU took on in-state rival, New Jersey City University, in an elimination match in round two.
The Knights took an early 1-0 lead after stringing strikes together and producing a 219-162 win in game one. The Gothic Knights responded with four consecutive strikes in game two and held on to a 211-187 win to even the match at one game each.
NJCU earned a second victory in game three by starting the bout with a string of four strikes. A poor tenth frame stopped FDU from catching up so that the Knights saw NJCU take a 2-1 lead with a 175-157 win in game three.
A close game four set the final frames up to highlight the contest. With two strikes in the final frames, NJCU took a three-pin win, 198-195, to take a 3-1 lead and put the Knights against the wall.
While facing elimination, the Knights found themselves down early in game five. The Gothic Knights produced three strikes in the first five frames, but the Knights were not finished. As the game neared its end, the Knights produced multiple strikes in the 10th frame when needed to earn a 203-190 win and advance to 3-2 to avoid elimination.
The Knights once again used a stellar 10th frame by Danielle McEwan (Stony Point, NY/Stony Point) to hold off the Gothic Knights in game six. After NJCU finished game six with a score of 213, McEwan recorded three strikes in the final frame to tie the game at 213 and bring the match score to 3.5-2.5.
In game seven, the Knights rolled five strikes in the first six frames to take a large lead early on. FDU maintained the edge to take a 221-127 victory and tie the match at 3.5 games per team.
With the match tied, the contest moved to a modified Baker game to break the tie. The teams competed in the final five frames of a Baker game to determine the match winner.
The Gothic Knights rolled three strikes in the tiebreaker to take the win, 91-82, and stay alive in the NEC Championship.
With the loss, the NEC regular season champions were eliminated from the tournament.
After 12 matches, three teams remain in contention for the conference championship. Second-seed Kutztown and fifth-seed Saint Francis University will compete on Sunday, March 24 for a chance to face undefeated sixth-seed Adelphi in the championship game. Sunday's championship action can be viewed live at NECFrontRow.com.
