Complete Results/StandingsHOUSTON - No. 9 ranked Fairleigh Dickinson built a three games to none lead against No. __ North Carolina A&T in the championship at the Lady Jack Classic but the Aggies stormed back to win four straight to claim the title.
"[Losing in the final] is an Extremely tough loss", said head coach
Mike LoPresti. "We played well enough to win the tournament, but couldn't close it out this time. It doesn't diminish how well we did overall during this event, however."
"After all, we won six of nine matches against top-ranked teams, including No. 1 Arkansas State twice, No. 2 Nebraska once, and No.3 Vanderbilt once. Those big wins are exactly what we needed and we need plenty more of them down the stretch."
Fairleigh Dickinson won game one 223-198 against North Carolina A&T and won game two rather comfortably, 206-178. The Knights took a 3-0 lead with a win in game three, 198-190. The Aggies battled back with a 257-226 win in game four and a 194-182 win in game five. North Carolina A&T won in game six, 190-172, to force a fifth and deciding game seven to determine the champion. The Aggies rolled a 201 to the Knights' 169 -- tied for the low game of the day for the Knights -- to earn the crown.
In the first round of the championship bracket, the Knights took on No. 1 Arkansas State. The Red Wolves took game one, 205-176. The Knights came back in to earn wins in games two and three by scores of 221-199 and 203-194 respectively. Arkansas State answered with a win in game four to tie the match at two games each. Fairleigh Dickinson closed out the match after winning game five, 216-213, and game six, 244-217. It was the Knights second win over the No. 1 Red Wolves during the competition.
The second round saw the Knights take on No. 2 Nebraska for the second time in as many days. The Cornhuskers won the first game easily, 217-169. The Knights then reeled off four straight wins, including a big 255-180 win in the clinching fifth game.
Individually,
Karsyn Lukosius (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) finished second in the individual standings after averaging 222.67 over six individual team games.
Melanie Hannon (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Maryvale) was sixth and
Natasha Ashby (Philadelphia, Pa./Science Leadership Academy) was 15th in the standings.
Fairleigh Dickinson will return to the lanes in two weekends, February 26-28, for the Monmouth Hawk Flight Invitational in North Brunswick, New Jersey.
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HOUSTON - No. 7 Fairleigh Dickinson went 4-1 on the second day of the Lady Jack Classic and sits in third in the team standings with an 8-3 overall record for the weekend and a 202.9 per game average.
The first match of the day saw the Knights take on No. 1 Arkansas State and the Knights edged the Red Wolves 1,026-1,022. The Knights got a 237 from
Melanie Hannon (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Maryvale) and a 220 from
Karsyn Lukosius (Brick, N.J./Brick Township). The Knights are now 1-1 on the season against the Red Wolves.
No. 11 North Carolina A&T was the opponent for match number two of the day for Fairleigh Dickinson. The knights won by 31 pins, 1,108-1,073.
Natasha Ashby (Philadelphia, Pa./Science Leadership Academy) had her highest score of the season with a 258. Lukosius rolled a 244 and
Morgan Brown (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford) and
Nicolette Sarin (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township High School) each cracked the 200-plateau.
Game three saw the Knights take fellow New Jersey inhabitant No. 17 Monmouth. The Knights and Eagles battled in a nip and tuck contest that Fairleigh Dickinson won 948-941. Hannon was the top Knight with a 228. Lukosius was close behind with a 217, the sophomore cracked 200 in four of the five games on the day.
Grambling State and Fairleigh Dickinson squared off in match four the Knights. The Knights cruised to a 1,012-721. Luksious rolled her high score of the day with a 252 to lead the way. Hannon rolled a 231 and Sarin registered 193.
Due to there being an odd number of teams, the Knights received a bye in game number five. The team bowled a 1,031.
No. 6 Wisconsin Whitewater handed the Knights their first loss of the day in the last match of the day. The Warhawks topped the Knights 1,010-978. Ashby led the way with a 224. Lukosius and Sarin each rolled a 192.
For the day, Lukosius totaled a team-high 1,326 pins. Hannon and Ashby both knocked down over 1,200 pins respectively.
The Knights will play in the championship bracket on Sunday. The Knights, as the three seed, will play Arkansas State in the first round. North Carolina A&T is the number seed and will face Nebraska, who is the two seed.
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Day 1 ResultsHOUSTON - Day one of the 2016 Lady Jack Classic, hosted by Stephen F. Austin the No. 7 ranked Fairleigh Dickinson Knights went 4-2 over six baker total pinfall matches. The Knights sit third in the team standings after averaging 202.4 per game on the first day of competition.
The first match of the day saw the Knights take on No. 3 Vanderbilt. The Knights took game one 203-179. The Commodores came back in game two to earn the 177-168 win over the Knights. The teams would continue to alternate games with Fairleigh Dickinson taking games three and five and Vanderbilt game four. The Knights would prevail overall 964-918.
Game two on the day for the Knights came against No. 2 Nebraska. The Huskers took games one (193-171), two (205-187), three (214-208) and five (235-158). The Knights did win game four in a close one, 225-223.
Fairleigh Dickinson bounced back in game three against the hosts of No. 8 Stephen F. Austin, 1,214-982. The Knights used a 279 to win game one, 279-167. The Lady Jacks got the win in game two, 201-190. The Knights then won games three, four and five. No game was within 30 pins over the final three.
The Knights made it two straight wins with a win over No. 19 Tulane in match four, 1,031-961. The Knights took game one, 194-162. Fairleigh Dickinson then won games two and three. The Green Wave got a win in game four, 213-182, and five, 225-191.
Match number five of the day of saw the Knights take on Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs came away with the win 973-906. The Knights did win game one, 185-163. Louisiana Tech then went on to win games two and three. Fairleigh Dickinson squeaked out a one-pin win in game five, 196-195. The Bulldogs sealed the win with a 50-pin win, 197-147, in game five.
Fairleigh Dickinson closed the day with a win over Southern University, 1,008-774. The Knights won all five games in the match. The closest game was the first that Fairleigh Dickinson won 184-172.
Saturday's slate will feature six traditional matches for the teams beginning at 9:30 a.m. central time.
