ALTOONA, Pa. - The Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team finished second at NEC Meet One, going 6-4 over the two-day tournament. The Knights took second behind Sacred Heart, which finished 7-3.
The Knights bounced back from a disappointing first day of traditional competition to win all five matches of baker competition. Instead of each bowler throwing an individual game, in a baker game, five bowlers combine to complete one game.
"Our team stuck together, put yesterday's struggles behind them and showed ready to battle," said head coach Mike LoPresti. "We avenged every defeat from the day before. With only one more regular-season NEC meet left, our performance today was crucial."
The Knights started out strong against the host school, Saint Francis U, bowling 1,026 to top the Red Flash's 976. The 1,026 was FDU's highest match score of the day. Nicolette Sarin (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township High School) helped lead the Knights to victory, throwing nine straight strikes.
In the second game against Caldwell, the Knights continued dominance, finishing with 964 pins to the Cougars 771.
Natasha Ashby (Philadelphia, Pa./Science Leadership Academy) powered the Knights, filling nine of 10 frames, including six strikes. Morgan Brown (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford) also had a solid performance for FDU, throwing three strikes and three spares.
The Knights continued to roll, throwing a 1,025 against LIU Brooklyn. The Blackbirds finished with a pin total of 860. Karsyn Lukosius (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) and Sarin each filled nine out of 10 frames and threw six strikes.
In the fourth match of the day, the Knights defeated St. Francis Brooklyn 1,013-913. FDU threw its highest game score of the day - 224 - in the fourth game against the Terriers.
Brown threw eight strikes for the Knights while Melanie Hannon (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Maryvale) added six strikes.
The final match of the day against Sacred Heart proved to be the closest of the day for the Knights. FDU narrowly defeated the Pioneers 935-917. The Knights were down by eight with two frames left when Sarin threw a strike in the ninth frame.
Hannon followed up with two strikes in the 10th frame to give the Knights the victory.
Sarin led the Knights with a 21.71 frame average. Hannon finished with a 20.50 frame average while Brown finished with a 20.43, Lukosius with a 19.88 and Ashby with a 19.51.
"It was clearly a totally different story today," said LoPresti. "We made better equipment choices and were smarter with surface alterations that matched our players better to the lane pattern and lane surface. Our players were able to play up to their potential because they were matched up better. What a huge difference it made."
The Knights will be back in action next weekend at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawk Classic in Millsboro, Delaware.
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ALTOONA, Pa. - The No.4 ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team went 1-4 over five traditional team games on the first day of NEC Meet One in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
"We could not do anything right all day", said head coach
Mike LoPresti afterwards. "We tried everything and still could not figure out the pattern. We are going to regroup and plan on playing better tomorrow."
The Knights got off to a good start in the first match of the day against LIU Brooklyn. Led by
Rebecca Fischer (Pittsburgh, Pa./Northgate)'s 226 and
Nicolette Sarin (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township High School)'s 198 to score a 934-888 win over the Blackbirds.
In game number two the Knights improved to a score of 959 but were defeated by host Saint Francis U's 1018.
Melanie Hannon (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Maryvale) led the way with a 204 and
Sydney Scelfo (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) was right behind with a 202.
St. Francis Brooklyn made two straight losses for the Knights with an 877-766 win.
Natasha Ashby (Philadelphia, Pa./Science Leadership Academy) and
Amy Caruso (Dayton, N.J./South Brunswick) combined for a 177 to lead the way. Sarin was second for Fairleigh Dickinson with a 161.
Fairleigh Dickinson bounced back with a 917 in game number four against Sacred Heart, but the Pioneers knocked down 1032 pins to earn the win. Fischer and Sarin led the way again with 203 and 202 respectively.
The final match of the day saw the Knights take on Caldwell. The Cougars came out with the 898-863 win to make it four straight losses to close the day for the Knights. Sarin tallied 188 pins with Hannon adding 183.
Sarin was the only Knight to complete all five games on the afternoon and averaged an 182.4. Fischer averaged an 187.6 on the day with her four complete matches plus the one game where
Karsyn Lukosius (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) spelled her.
Sacred Heart went 4-1 on the day to lead the standings. The Pioneers averaged a 191.5 to lead the field of six teams. Fairleigh Dickinson sits in fifth with its 1-4 record and in fourth with a team average of 177.6.
The meet concludes tomorrow with five matches of baker competition.
