SMYRNA, Tenn. -- An 1-2 record in bracket play on Sunday led the sixth-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team to a sixth-place finish at the Vanderbilt Music City Classic. 

No. 1 McKendree won the tournament after beating No. 3 Arkansas State twice on Sunday in bracket play. 

In the first round on Sunday morning, the Knights faced off with a familiar foe in No. 11 Sacred Heart. The two Northeast Conference foes battled through seven games with the Pioneers taking game seven 207-177 to move and play No. 5 Vanderbilt. The Pioneers and Knights alternated wins in games 1-5. Sacred Heart snuck out the seven-pin win (186-179) win game six before prevailing in game seven. 

Round two for the Knights was a match with Wisconsin Whitewater. Like Fairleigh Dickinson's first round match up, this one went the maximum of seven games, but the Knights came out ahead in game seven to move on. The Warhawks did not make it easy on the Knights with winning games one and two. The two teams split the next two games, so the Knights found themselves down 3-1 after four games. 

The Knights responded with dominating wins in games five and six -- 191-172 in game five and 186-159 in game six. The Knights completed the comeback with a 10-pin win (193-183) in game seven. The win moved Fairleigh Dickinson into the fifth-place match against the hosts -- Vanderbilt. 

In round three against Vanderbilt, the Knights got out of the gates strong with a 237-195 win in game one. The Commodores then responded with four straight wins, the closest game was game three (219-212), to win the match four games to one. 

The Knights ended the weekend with an 8-5 record and concluded the regular season with a 76-33 record. 

Up next for Fairleigh Dickinson is the Northeast Conference Championships next weekend in Howell, New Jersey on Match 25 and 26. The Knights are the number two seed. 

----------------------------
Day 2 Recap

SMYRNA, Tenn. – The sixth-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson will move into bracket play on Sunday in sixth place after going 3-2 on Saturday in traditional team games.

The Knights will face fellow Northeast Conference school, No. 11 Sacred Heart, in the first round. The winner of the match gets the winner of Vanderbilt and Stephen F Austin.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson opened the day with a march against the hosts, No. 5 Vanderbilt. The Commodores got the better of the Knights 1144-905. The Knights got a 205 from Laura Branch. The next best Knight was Melanie Hannon with an 182.
 
Lincoln (Mo.) was the opponent in match two of the day and Fairleigh Dickinson got the 993-899. A trio of Knights recorded scores over 200. Hannon had the best game of the day by a Knight with a 258. Branch was at 205 and Samantha Hart had a 201.
 
The Knights made it back-to-back wins with a triumph over Alabama State 928-825. Hart paced the Knights with a 210. Hannon rolled a 191 and Karsyn Lukosius knocked down 190 pins.
 
A third straight win for the Knights on the day came against Alabama A&M 932-624. Hart had her best game of the day with a 224 as did Lukosius with a 220.
 
In the final match of the day, Fairleigh Dickinson was topped by Prairie View A&M 905-800. The high mark for the Knights came from Lukosius at 183.
 
No. 3 Arkansas State is at the top of the bracket heading into Sunday with a 9-1 record and the only team averaging over 200 per game. The rest of the top five is No. 1 McKendree, Vanderbilt, No. 7 Stephen F Austin and Sacred Heart.

Individually, Hannon had the top average on Saturday for the Knights at 194. That average put the senior in 33rd on the individual leader board.

----------------------------------
Day 1 Recap

SMYRNA, Tenn. -- The sixth-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team opened the Vanderbilt Music City Classic with a 4-1 record over five baker matches.

The Knights got wins over Valparaiso, Arkansas State, Tulane and Elmhurst. The lose loss came to No. 1 McKendree.

Fairleigh Dickinson started Friday with a 958-831 win over No. 25 Valparaiso. The Knights opened a 32-pin lead after a 192-159 win game one over the Crusaders. Games two and three also provided big wins for the Knights (209-155, 202-155). The Crusaders got a win in game four, but the Knights bounced back in game five with an 187-157.

Match two of the day featured a contest against third-ranked Arkansas State, which the Knights won 1110-1044. The first two games were decided by less than 15 pins with each team winning one. The Knights had won game three 267-189 before the Red Wolves won 268-232 in game four. Fairleigh Dickinson won game five 204-180 to preserve the win.

A 1052-895 win over Tulane made it three straight wins to start the day. The Knights did not drop a game to the Green Wave (205-176, 183-172, 222-165, 232-191, 210-191).

Top-ranked McKendree handed the Knights their lone setback of the day game four 1001-998. The Knights dropped games one and two before claiming wins in game three (214-182) and game four (200-196) to take a seven-pin lead heading into game five. McKendree came back in game five to get the 10-pin win, 232-22, and clipped the Knights by the three pins.

Fairleigh Dickinson was able to end the day on a high note with win 887-732 win over Elmhurst in match five. The Knights fell behind by two in game one, but the Knights got the win in game two before cruising in games three, four and five.

Saturday will feature five traditional games for the competing teams. The action starts at 9:30 a.m.