SINKING SPRING, Pa. – The eighth-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team finished the NEC Spring Meet by going 2-2 in four Baker matches and ended the day in fifth place in the NEC standings, qualifying for the NEC Championships.
The Knights (67-39) defeated no. 23 Duquense and no. 20 Sacred Heart but fell to no. 11 Saint Francis U and St. Francis Brooklyn, finishing with a 6-6 record over the weekend and an 8-10 record in conference matches overall. By finishing in fifth place in the standings, the Knights earned the final qualifying spot for next month's NEC Championships, taking place March 22-24 at Howell Lanes in Howell, N.J.
"After being in last place following Friday's competition, making it back to the conference tournament gives us a new life on the season," head coach
Mike LoPresti said at the end of the day. "We still have plenty of heavy lifting left, but it's better than not making it at all by a landslide."
FDU finished 4-2 in five-game Baker matches over the weekend and had the highest team average with 205.8 pins per game. Across all 18 conference matches, the Knights totaled 18,022 pins and averaged 189.7 pins per game, trailing only first-place Saint Francis U (14-4 overall, 192.7 pins per game) and Duquesne (9-9 overall, 191.7 pins per game).
Making Baker starts in all four matches for the Knights were senior
Amy Caruso, junior
Samantha Hart and sophomores
Amanda Chrzanowski and
Aimee Sherman. Junior
Brianna MacLeod subbed into the match vs. Duquesne and then started the remaining three matches as well, with freshman
Lanasia Neal earning a start against Duquesne.
The Knights started the day with a closely contested match against the Dukes, where the Knights had to battle from down 38 pins after three games. FDU closed the gap to 18 with a 211-191 win in the fourth game and then completed the comeback with a 214-195 fifth frame win that provided the one-pin margin the Knights needed to win 985-984.
Against SFU, the Knights jumped out to an early 243-198 lead after the first game, but it was all Saint Francis from that point on, leading to a 1076-956 defeat for FDU.
A back-and-forth battle then ensued with Sacred Heart in the third match of the day. After starting off down 16, the Knights gained the advantage with a 258-163 win in the second game to go up by 79 pins. The Pioneers whittled the margin back down to 19 over the next two games, but FDU finished the match strong by taking the fifth game, 236-148, and won the overall match by a score of 1057-950.
With a chance to tie for third place in their final match of the day, the Knights came up just short against St. Francis Brooklyn, falling 1037-1000. The two teams split the first two games, with the Terriers holding a 19-pin advantage before adding to their margin in the third game. The Knights cut the margin back down to 37 pins after a 237-214 positive margin in the fourth frame, but the Terriers matched the Knights' score of 214 in the fifth game to hold on for the victory.
Saint Francis U will enter the NEC Championships as the top seed, followed by Mount St. Mary's (12-6), Sacred Heart (9-9), Duquesne (9-9) and then the Knights.
The Knights are scheduled to compete next weekend at the Monmouth Hawk Flight Invite in Egg Harbor, N.J., from March 1-3, and then have one final tuneup at the Northeast Finest Tournament from March 16-17 before starting the NEC Championships.
