SINKING SPRING, Pa. – The eighth-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team rebounded from a rough start with a strong 4-0 second-day performance at the NEC Spring Meet Saturday.
The Knights (65-37) defeated no. 20 Sacred Heart and no. 17 LIU Brooklyn in their two remaining traditional matches of the weekend, and then continued their big day with victories over LIU and no. 19 Mount St. Mary's in Baker matches later in the afternoon.
The victory over Sacred Heart was a historic one for head coach
Mike LoPresti, who earned his 1,400th career victory at FDU. The NCAA's all-time winningest coach in bowling history achieved the milestone in his 17th season with the program, and LoPresti owns a career winning percentage of .740 in 1,897 matches with the Knights (1,403-494).
With the four wins, FDU improves to fifth in the NEC standings with four matches remaining on Sunday. The Knights are two games ahead of LIU Brooklyn and St. Francis Brooklyn (4-10), and they are one win behind Sacred Heart for fourth place. FDU also has the third-best pin average (185.7) in NEC matches this season, trailing only no. 23 Duquesne (191.3) and no. 11 Saint Francis U (190.0)
The top five teams in the standings at the end of the day Sunday will qualify for the NEC Championships in March.
"Today was a tremendous turnaround for us, and it couldn't have happened at a better time," LoPresti said after the day ended. "We had sunk to the basement of the standings, and after hitting rock bottom, we put together a string of matches where we improved in every one. Now it's about using the momentum we gained today to boost us tomorrow. We will be playing three of the top four teams in the standings, so we'll need to be at our best, otherwise our season will conclude early."
The Knights started the day with a 964-916 victory over Sacred Heart. Sophomore
Aimee Sherman led the way with a 258, the best game score by any Knight in the traditional rounds. Junior
Samantha Hart also contributed a 192 from the leadoff spot in helping Coach LoPresti earn his historic win.
FDU finished the traditional round of play with a nail-biting 973-970 victory over LIU. Three Knights scored a 200 or better, with Sherman leading the way again with a 226. Sophomore
Amanda Chrzanowski, the Knights' scoring leader from the first day, rolled a 200 in the win, and freshman
Lanasia Neal started her second straight match and finished with a 204.
The Knights then switched over to Baker matches and utilized a lineup of Hart, Neal, senior
Amy Caruso, Sherman and Chrzanowski against both LIU and Mount.
Against LIU, the Knights won each of the five games on their way to a 1072-847, winning four of the five games by 30 pins or more. The Knights tallied over 200 pins in each of the last four games, finishing out the match with scores of 212, 223, 255 and 211.
FDU then saved its best game for last, defeating Mount by a score of 1105-1033. The Knights edged the Mountaineers by three pins, 225-222, in the first game but fell behind after the second game. The Knights made up the difference in the third frame, winning 237-173, to go back up by four pins, and then they finished strong with scores of 246-210 and 235-203 in the fourth and fifth games to seal the overall victory.
The Knights finished the six traditional matches in the tournament with a 191.7 pins per game average, trailing Duquesne by only two pins for the most among all teams (5,752). The Knights' average of 217.7 pins per game in the Baker rounds is the best of the seven teams competing thus far.
Tomorrow's schedule has FDU facing in order Duquesne, Saint Francis U, Sacred Heart and St. Francis Brooklyn to wrap up the event. Check back here at fduknights.com at the end of the day Sunday for the full results and recap.
