HAMILTON, N.J. – The eighth-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team suffered a nail-biting mega-match loss to Sacred Heart and then also fell to Mount St. Mary's in a mega-match to end their Northeast Conference Championship run short.
 
The Knights (82-49) won the traditional match against the Pioneers but then dropped the Baker total pinfall round to set up a Baker best four-of-seven tiebreaker, which the Pioneers narrowly pulled out with a 4-3 win over FDU. The Knights repeated the first match results against the Mountaineers, taking the traditional match but dropping the Baker total pinfall round. Mount then got out to a lead that proved insurmountable for the Knights to overcome in the Baker best-of-seven series to take the match and eliminate FDU from the tournament.
 
"Never easy to play your hearts out and lose close in two tough matches," head coach Mike LoPresti said. "A break here or there differently and we're playing tomorrow for the conference championship. But still it comes down to execution and making your own breaks, and throughout today, we were unable to do that."
 
The Knights started senior Amy Caruso, juniors Brianna MacLeod and Samantha Hart, and sophomores Amanda Chrzanowski and Aimee Sherman in the traditional round. Sophomores Jenna Henderson and Deborah Epps subbed in during the Baker round, and Henderson stepped into the leadoff role for the remainder of the match against the Pioneers, bowling Baker doubles in the late stages to help the Knights from the top of the order. Henderson replaced Macleod in the traditional match lineup against Mount, with MacLeod subbing in during the Baker rounds.
 
The Knights earned a close win, 954-951, in the traditional match against Sacred Heart. The Knights were bolstered by strong play from the back end of their lineup, with Caruso and Sherman piling on big scores to help make the victory possible. Sherman at one point rolled six consecutive strikes on her way to a 220, while Caruso also bowled six consecutive strikes and anchored with a team-high score of 233. Hart added a 182, while Chrzanowski scored a 169 and MacLeod a 150.
 
In the Baker total pinfall round, Sacred Heart jumped out to a 82-pin lead after the first two games, but the Knights cut the deficit by 10 in the third game and then trimmed it even further with a big 213-172 advantage in the fourth game. Needing 32 pins better in the fifth game, the Knights could not rally down the stretch as the Pioneers pulled out a 926-869 victory.
 
The match then went to a best-of-seven series to break the tie, where the Pioneers took the first game but the Knights bounced back with consecutive victories in games two, 197-135, and three, 200-194. Caruso was big down the stretch for the Knights in game three, knocking home the necessary pins in the 10th frame to clinch the game for FDU.
 
Sacred Heart, however, countered with wins in the fourth and fifth games to put FDU in a 3-2 hole. The Knights stayed alive with a 191-168 win in the sixth game, setting up the decisive seventh game. The Pioneers, however, saved their best game for last, and the Knights could not match down the stretch in a 225-210 defeat that sent the Knights to an elimination match against Mount St. Mary's.
 
In the Mount traditional match, FDU dominated down the stretch in winning 1069-883. The Knights from midway through the fifth frame til the end bowled a clean slate minus three tenth-frame "third ball" rolls, collecting 23 strikes and 10 spares. Sherman led the way with a 244 score, while Henderson in the fourth spot added a 226. Chrzanowski at leadoff (205) and Caruso in the anchor (204) also scored over 200, and Hart added a 190 in the third spot in the lineup.
 
Moving on to Baker total pinfall, the Knights started with a nine-pin advantage, 210-201, after the first game. Mount, however, then took advantage in the second game and went up by 53 pins, but the Knights recovered 26 of those pins with a 206-180 advantage in the third game. Mount, however, played a strong fourth game to further their lead by another 79 pins, and the deficit was too much to overcome for the Knights, forcing another best-of-seven tiebreaker.
 
The Mount took a very close 182-179 first game in the best-of-seven and also captured the second game to go up on the Knights, 2-0. FDU roared back six consecutive strikes in the third game on their way to a 212-184 win to make it 2-1, but the Mount rebounded with a 224-198 win in the fourth game. Needing wins to stay alive, the Knights tried to spark one last rally but could not close out the game to end in a loss and a 4-1 overall defeat.
 
Mount St. Mary's advanced to face Sacred Heart in the championship final on Sunday at 9 a.m. The Knights end their run at the NEC Championships in third place out of the five teams that competed over the weekend, finishing their season with over 80 wins for the fourth time in six years.
 
"Our program has a bright future," LoPresti added. "The way we map out our season, it prepares us for the end of the year, so we hit a lot of tournaments and we did well throughout the year. We're very proud of the accomplishments of the group, 80 wins today is a lot. We know that means we're going to be in the hunt at the end of the year, so we're very proud of that, and our players are quality players, great kids and great student-athletes. We love having these kids on our team. We have a volume of information that we can use to improve our program, and that's exactly what we are going to be doing."

Chrzanowski and Sherman along with FDU graduate Karsyn Lukosius will continue their season in April, competing in the USBC National Singles Championships in Dayton, Ohio, from April 17-20.