MILLSBORO, Del. – The ninth-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team repeated its performance from the previous day at the UMES Hawk Classic, winning three of five matches Saturday.
The Knights (17-11) picked up wins over Kutztown and no. 13 Lincoln Memorial as well as against the host team, no. 7 UMES, in its final match of the day. FDU fell, however, in similar matches to no. 11 Sacred Heart and no. 6 Arkansas State. The Knights completed the traditional round matches with a total of 4,778 pins, averaging 191.1 pins per game.
Through two days of competition, FDU sits in 12th place, however, in the overall standings despite its 6-4 record, totaling 9,425 pins fallen for a 188.9 pin per game average. The Knights will move on to the Baker playoff three-round, best four-of-seven bracket competing to finish as high as ninth.
"While the results were the same, we played better as a team today, and our team scoring improved a notch or two," said head coach
Mike LoPresti.
Senior
Samantha Hart, junior
Jenna Henderson and sophomore
Lanasia Neal started all five matches for FDU, with senior
Brianna MacLeod (four), junior
Aimee Sherman (three) and freshman
Cameron Spring (three) also making starts. Henderson at the anchor led the team with an individual average of 206.4 pins per game, placing 15th overall in the tournament, while Hart averaged 194.8 per game and MacLeod averaged 196.3 per game in her four games.
"Jenna had another good day as she led the team in average," LoPresti said. "Sammy Hart also played well throughout the day. Both were pretty clutch, closing out frames and games with key strikes and filled frames in the 4 and 5 holes of our lineup. Sammy's three strikes in the tenth during the final match of the day clinched the win against host UMES."
The Knights started the day well with two straight wins, first over Kutztown, 979-813, and then over no. 13 Lincoln Memorial, 937-856. Hart (214) and MacLeod (212) led the way for FDU against Kutztown, with Neal also contributing a 211 in her best game of the day. Henderson totaled a 235 score for her best of the day against Lincoln Memorial, with Hart also providing a solid score of 216.
FDU then suffered a setback against NEC rival Sacred Heart, falling 1017-969. Sherman rolled her best game of the day with a 237, and Neal led off for the Knights with a 202, while both Henderson (188) and Hart (184) also contributed with scores above 180. The Pioneers, however, benefitted from all five pinsetters scoring above 190 to earn the victory.
The Knights met a similar fate against their highest-ranked opponent of the day, falling to no. 6 Arkansas State, 1026-960. MacLeod finished with the highest individual score of the day for FDU with a 246, and Henderson also played a solid round at 223. Arkansas State, however, benefitted from its anchor contributing a 257, and two more pinsetters scoring above 200 in earning the win.
Wrapping up the day against the host Hawks, the Knights closed out its Saturday with a 933-904 win over the seventh-ranked team in the country. Hart (210) and Henderson (205) again played big roles for the Knights, with MacLeod (176) and Spring (175) also making key contributions. Neal and freshman
Ashley Sham combined to total 167 pins to round out the final tally for FDU.
FDU faces no. 25 Monmouth in its first Baker playoff match at 8:30 a.m., on Sunday. If the Knights win all three of their scheduled playoff matches, they could finish in as high as ninth place in the tournament out of 18 teams.
