TOWSON, Md. – The eighth-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team won two of three Baker playoff matches to finish the James Brown Invitational in third place out of 15 teams on Sunday.
The Knights (61-33), who won the event last year and were looking to defend their tournament title, played two fellow Northeast Conference competitors in their matches, 23rd-ranked Duquesne and St. Francis Brooklyn. They dropped out of championship contention after a loss to Duquesne, but finished the day with back-to-back wins over the Terriers and the Dukes to wrap up the tournament.
FDU averaged 185.7 pins per game across the 18 games played on the final day, totaling 3,343 pins for the day. The Knights finished the tournament with a total pin count of 12,580, averaging 185.0 pins per game over all three days.
The same five pinsetters competed in the three best four-of-seven playoff matches for the Knights, with junior
Samantha Hart serving as the leadoff and sophomore
Amanda Chrzanowski the closer in all five matches. Junior
Brianna MacLeod, senior
Amy Caruso and sophomore
Aimee Sherman rounded out the Knight lineup.
Hart was named to the All-Tournament Team, one of five players named to the team for their play throughout the weekend.
"While we weren't able to successfully defend our title, our two clutch wins to close out the tournament, including our win to claim third place, was our best team play of the weekend," head coach
Mike LoPresti said at the end of the day.
In the first match against Duquesne, the Knights struggled out of the gate and dropped the first two games to fall into a 2-0 hole. FDU rebounded in the third frame with a 212-149 win, but a two-pin loss in the fourth game, 181-179, put the Knights on the verge of elimination. The Dukes then closed out the match with a 195-185 win in the fifth game, knocking the Knights out of a chance at making the championship final.
The Knights also dropped two close games to start against St. Francis Brooklyn, but they then matched the Terriers with wins in the third frame, 170-159, and the fourth frame, 212-202. FDU then suffered a six-pin defeat in the fifth game but stayed alive with a 184-148 win in the sixth game to force a decisive seventh game. The Knights stayed strong and turned in a 204-192 win to defeat the Terriers in the match, 4-3.
FDU then avenged its loss earlier in the day to Duquense with a 4-2 win in the third-place match. The Knights took the first game, 207-162, but the Dukes matched in the second game. The two teams also traded wins in the third and fourth games before FDU rolled its way to big wins in the fifth and sixth games to wrap up the match, winning 223-134 and 214-160, respectively.
The Knights will see these two opponents again next weekend at the NEC Spring Meet, a three-day event starting Friday, February 22, and concluding Sunday, February 24. The event will take place in Sinking Spring, Pa., at Berk Lanes.
