Final Day
NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. - The ninth ranked Fairleigh Dickinson Knights finished fifth at the Monmouth Hawk Flight Invitational at Carolier Lanes on Sunday.
"After a rough start, we showed a lot of guts to come back and turn the weekend into a positive one", said head
Mike LoPresti afterwards. "It took all of our ability to maintain composure, find solutions to the cause of our struggles, apply those adjustments, and compete at an extraordinary high scoring pace. We're fighting for one of the spots for the NCAA tournament and how we performed during the last two days of the this tournament has put us back on track."
The Knights were seeded seventh heading into Sunday's bracket competition after beating New Jersey City 1103 - 743. The Knights was led by
Nicolette Sarin (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township High School) 239,
Morgan Walsh (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Maryvale) 233 and
Amy Caruso (Dayton, N.J./South Brunswick) 224. The victory, gave FDU a 5-5 tournament record in the tourn standings. However, more importantly, during the 5 traditional matches, Fairleigh Dickinson led the field in total pin fall, averaging 1122.4 per game.
In the first match of the day the Knights battled No. 15 Kutztown in a best of seven baker match series. The Golden Bears toke game one, 238-208. Game two saw the Knights slip past by two pins, 218-216. Fairleigh Dickinson was nearly perfect in game three, rolling a 289 to Kutztwon's 241. Kutztown won gave five to make it 3-2 in favor of Fairleigh Dickinson in games. The Knights closed out the match with a 241-198 win in game six.
The Knights moved on to face the fifth seeded No. 19 St. Francis Brooklyn.
The match with the terriers went the full seven games. St. Francis Brooklyn and Fairleigh Dickinson split the first two games. The Terriers won game three in a close battle, 212-208. The Knights easily won game four, 262-213 to even the match at two games apiece. Game five went to the Terrier, 247-191, their highest total of the seven games. Fairleigh Dickinson then won game six, 225-213, and game seven, 267-170.
The Knights return to action next weekend when they travel to Wallingford, Connecticut for the second NEC Meet of the season.
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Day 2
NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. - The Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team finished 3-1 over five traditional matches on the second day of the Monmouth Hawk Flight Invitational at Carolier Lanes.
The No. 9 Knights currently sit in seventh place with a total score of 9,242. Vanderbilt University is in first place with 9,805.
Individually,
Melanie Hannon (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Maryvale) is averaging 235 over the first four games of traditional play to led the Knights.
Morgan Brown (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford) is right behind with a 234 and
Nicolette Sarin (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township High School) is at 230.
The Knights opened up the day with a 1,198-854 win over Caldwell University. Sarin had a 278 to lead the Knights.
Morgan Walsh (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Maryvale) was close behind with a 256 and Brown had a 237. FDU now has a 2-1 edge on Caldwell this season. The Knights previously split with the Cougars at NEC Meet 1 in November.
FDU took its only loss of the day in the second match against No. 3 Vanderbilt. Walsh led the way with a 220. Brown rolled a 216 and Hannon registered a 215. The Commodores defeated the Knights 1,172-1,052. The Knights are 2-4 against Vanderbilt this season and will head to the Vanderbilt Music City Classic on March 18.
The Knights edged Franklin Pierce in the third match of the day. FDU defeated the Ravens by a score of 1,116-929. The Knights had four bowl over 200 -- led by Brown's 248 -- and are now 2-0 against Franklin Pierce this year.
FDU had a bye in the fourth round of play due to an odd number of teams in the tournament.
The Knights' last match of the day was against Northeast Conference foe No. 21 St. Francis Brooklyn. FDU came out on top with a 1,143-1,019 win over the Terriers. It is the fourth win over St. Francis Brooklyn so far this season. All five bowlers scored at least a 195; Hannon, 269; Brown, 238; Walsh, 228;
Karsyn Lukosius (Brick, N.J./Brick Township), 213; Sarin, 195.
FDU concludes the Monmouth Hawk Flight Invitational tomorrow. The meet will begin at 9 a.m. and consist of one round of traditional play as well as two best 4-of-7 baker matches
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Day one:
NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. - The Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team went 1-4 over five baker matches on the first day of the Monmouth Hawk Flight Invitational at Carolier Lanes.
The No.. 9 Knights fell to No. 16 Monmouth in the opening match of the day, 1139-983. Fairleigh Dickinson is now 3-2 against the Hawks this season.
Match number two of the day say Fairleigh Dickinson faced off with Northeast Conference foe No. 14 LIU Brooklyn. The Knights lost to the Blackbirds, 1077-973. The Knights are now 6-2 against the Blackbirds this season with at least three more meetings this season in NEC competition.
Number 15 Kutztown made it three losses on day one in match number three. The Golden Bears topped the Knights 1010-985. It would be the Knights closest loss of the afternoon.
Number 4 Sam Houston State got the better of Fairleigh Dickinson in match four, 942-798. It is only the second time this season that the Knights did not eclipse 800 in a match. The Knights are 0-2 this season against the Bearkats.
Fairleigh Dickinson was able to end the day on a winning note by topping Felician, 994-867. The Knights are 2-0 against the Golden Falcons this season.
The action resumes tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. with five traditional matches.
