LIMERICK, Pa. – The seventh-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team finished in fourth place in the Kutztown Golden Bear Invitational, winning one of three playoff matches in the final day of the tournament.
 
The Knights (47-22) defeated no. 8 UMES in their first Baker best-four-of-seven match of the day by a 4-3 margin but suffered a 4-1 defeat in their following match to no. 4 Arkansas State. Playing for third place, FDU again faced UMES in its final match but fell in six games (4-2) to claim fourth place out of 28 teams.
 
FDU finished the tournament with an 9-4 record and averaged 199.3 pins per game for the tournament. FDU totaled 3,576 pins on the final day, averaging 198.7 pins per game.

"Overall, the weekend was a positive one," head coach Mike LoPresti said after play ended. "It was a big step in the right direction, especially after defeating many top-notch teams and finishing higher in the standings than many of them, too. It's a great atart to the second half of the season. Today, however, we put ourselves in a position to win the tournament and after a clutch seven-game over one of our Northeast region rivals, we came up short and did not perform at a championship level."

Junior Brianna MacLeod, senior Amy Caruso and sophomore Amanda Chrzanowski started and played throughout all three rounds for the Knights. Sophomore Jenna Henderson started the first two matches and subbed in during the final match, while sophomore Deborah Epps and freshman Lanasia Neal each competed in two matches. 
 
In the opening match against UMES, the Knights dropped a close first game, 228-215, but rebounded with wins in the second and third games to take a 2-1 lead. The Hawks tied the match in the fourth frame, but the Knights regained the lead with a 233-145 win in the fifth game. UMES won the next frame to force a deciding seventh frame, where the Knights played a strong game and won 214-149 to take the overall match.
 
Against Arkansas State, FDU dropped each of the first three games to fall into a 3-0 hole. The Knights stayed alive by capturing a win in the fourth frame, but Arkansas State finished off the match with a win in the fifth game and knock the Knights back to the third-place match.
 
FDU started its second match against UMES with a 210-127 win but dropped each of the next two games to fall behind 2-1. The Knights tied the match at 2-2 with a 202-164 victory in the fourth frame, but the Hawks would go on to capture wins in each of the next two games to take the overall match, 4-2.
 
The Knights were the highest placed team among the seven NEC squads competing in the tournament and finished higher than 16 of the 20 ranked teams in the tournament field, including five teams ranked higher than them in the NTCA top 25 poll.
 
Stephen F. Austin finished as the tournament champion with an 11-1 record. The Knights handed SFA their only loss of the tournament on Friday.
 
FDU travels to Arlington, Texas, for their next tournament taking place February 1-3, competing in the Prairie View A&M Invitational.