MILLSBORO, Del. – The ninth-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team won two of three matches on the final day of the UMES Hawk Classic to finish in 10th place out of 18 teams.
The Knights (19-12) started the day in 12th and won each of their first two Baker playoff best four-of-seven matches but dropped its ninth-place match at the end of the day to earn their finish. FDU defeated no. 25 Monmouth, 4-2, and no. 14 Tulane, 4-1, and finished the weekend with a three-day record of 8-5. The Knights downed 2,668 pins in their three matches, averaging 177.8 pins per game, and finished the weekend with a game average of 186 by totaling 12,093 pins in three days.
"These type of matches today require plenty of energy and intensity," head coach
Mike LoPresti said after play concluded. "Winning matches against two ranked teams is a nice way to close out the tournament."
Junior
Jenna Henderson started and finished all three matches in the anchor role, while senior
Samantha Hart, sophomore
Lanasia Neal and freshman
Cameron Spring also made starts in all three matches. Senior
Brianna MacLeod started the first two contests, and junior
Aimee Sherman earned a starting nod in the final match.
Facing Monmouth for the second time in the tournament, FDU won each of the first two games, 198-160 and 178-168, to jump ahead 2-0. The Hawks took the next game, but the Knights responded then with a 192-178 win to go ahead 3-1. Monmouth then stayed alive with a win in the fifth game, but the Knights rallied late in the sixth game to come from behind and seal the match victory. Henderson in the final frame converted on a spare and needed at least nine pins to pull of the comeback, and the junior rolled a final strike to help FDU win 168-166 and take the match.
A total team effort then ensued in the Knights's 4-1 victory over Tulane in the next matchup. The lineup of Neal, MacLeod, Spring, Hart and Henderson gutted out a close 182-181 win in the first game, but Tulane pulled even by taking the second game. With freshmen
Ashley Sham and
Lauren Marks inserted into lineup for the third game, the Knights rallied back for a 188-178 win, and Sherman subbed in to the fourth game to also help FDU win 176-168 in the fourth stanza to go up 3-1. Junior
Amanda Chrzanowski joined the action for the fifth game as FDU closed out the Green Wave with a 208-194 win in the fifth game.
The Knights then engaged in a battle with no. 14 Delaware State in the ninth-place match but dropped four close games (166-161, 211-205, 190-168 and 237-214) in a 4-0 sweep.
FDU takes a week off before returning to Northeast Conference play the following weekend, playing the second of three NEC meets December 7-8 in York, Pa.
