MILLSBORO, Del. – The ninth-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team captured four of five Baker team match victories and sit in third place after the first day at the UMES Hawks Classic.
 
The Knights (32-10) defeated three of the four ranked opponents they faced, including two ranked NEC foes, and ended the day with three straight wins. FDU totaled a Baker average of 200.2 per game, one of only three teams to finish above 200 for the day. The Knights only trail top-ranked Vanderbilt and tenth-ranked Tulane in the standings out of 17 teams.
 
"We had a pretty good day," said head coach Mike LoPresti after play concluded. "Today we executed well, we were fundamentally sound and we scored well for most of our matches. If we can be more consistent, we could challenge for the lead."
 
Senior Amy Caruso and juniors Samantha Hart and Brianna MacLeod started all five matches for the Knights, while sophomore Jenna Henderson started four of the five matches and subbed in during the match she did not start. Sophomore Deborah Epps, the reigning NEC bowler of the week, started the first three matches of the day, and sophomore Aimee Sherman started in Epps' place for the final two matches.
 
FDU began the day against 14th-ranked Lincoln Memorial, whom they beat twice last weekend. The Knights found similar success in Friday's match, winning 1,082-887 and scoring well over 200 in four of the five games.
 
The Knights suffered their only setback of the day in their second match against eighth-ranked Delaware State. FDU fell behind by 59 pins after two rounds but shaved the deficit by 32 in the third game (214-172). Delaware State, however, outscored the Knights in each of the final two rounds on their way to a 961-929 victory.
 
FDU started its match against 12th-ranked Sacred Heart also trailing after two rounds, this time by 25 pins. The Knights stormed back to take the advantage after a strong 40-pin advantage in the third game and then outscored the Pioneers by 65 pins in defeating their NEC rivals by a final score of 1078-998. FDU ended the match by scoring a 246, its highest single-game total for the day.
 
After a slow start in the first round against St. Francis Brooklyn, the Knights increased their game total incrementally over the final four rounds in earning a 951-898 win. FDU followed a 183 second round with three straight scores in the 200s (200, 217, 234) and built onto its lead in each of the subsequent rounds. Sophomore Amanda Chrzanowski started for the Knights in this match, her only game action of the day.

"I'm most proud of our match against SFBK," LoPresti said. "After opening the match with one of our lowest Baker games, we could have packed it in right there, but instead we rallied back to win the match with a string of strikes during the back half of game five."
 
The Knights closed out the first day against 19th-ranked LIU Brooklyn and earned its third straight win over an NEC opponent, 966-928. The Knights never trailed in their match against the Blackbirds and rolled a high score of 234 in the third round.
 
The three-day tournament continues tomorrow with five traditional team matches and concludes Sunday with the Baker playoff best-four-of-seven bracket. Check back here at fduknights.com for further updates at the end of the day Saturday.