ARLINGTON, TEXAS – The 17th-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team picked up four impressive victories to start the Prairie View A&M Invitational on Friday.
The Knights (33-22) won four of their five Baker total pin fall matches in the first day of the three-day event, defeating three ranked opponents and a NEC rival in the process. FDU was only one of three teams out of 12 in the field to accumulate four wins or more to start the tournament.
FDU totaled 4,717 pins over the course of five matches, averaging 188.7 pins per game to place ninth in the tournament standings despite accumulating four victories. Top-ranked McKendree, who handed the Knights their only blemish of the day, sits in first place with 5,142 total pins and a 5-0 record thus far.
"We played with a lot of energy and intensity all day, and it surely paid off," said head coach
Mike LoPresti. "Winning four matches today gives us a very nice start, especially while competing against the teams in this stacked field. We're going to clean up a few things and make a few adjustments to help our scoring potential for tomorrow's action. This will help us climb higher in the total pin fall standings."
Juniors
Jenna Henderson,
Aimee Sherman and
Amanda Chrzanowski started all five matches for the Knights, and freshman
Cameron Spring made starts in four of five matches. Senior
Samantha Hart totaled three starts and four total appearances, with senior
Brianna MacLeod and sophomore
Lanasia Neal each recording three appearances as well while filling the remaining starting spots.
Facing NEC rival Saint Francis U in their opening match, the Knights started the day with a 995-863 victory, bowling three games with over 200 pins (201, 204 and 213) to help build up a 115-pin cushion through the first four games. FDU sustained its momentum into the final game as well, pulling ahead even further with a 186-169 finish. Hart, Henderson, Spring, Sherman and Chrzanowski powered the Knights to the opening win.
The same FDU lineup then claimed the team's best win of the day, handing no. 3 Nebraska a 935-877 defeat. The Knights started with a 21-pin deficit but gained back 20 of the pins in the second game and then took advantage of a 236 score in the third game, nearly 100 pins better than the Cornhuskers. The cushion provided the Knights all the room they would need to earn the victory, as MacLeod also factored into the match off the bench.
The Knights then faced their biggest challenge of the day in no. 1 McKendree but could not overcome an early deficit in suffering a 1021-843 loss. FDU rolled its best two games of the match, 182 and 181, to start the affair, but McKendree totaled scores of 237 and 194 in their frames to help grow a lead. MacLeod replaced Spring in the starting lineup, with the freshman joined by Neal and junior
Deborah Epps as players off the bench trying to provide a spark.
FDU pulled ahead early in its next match facing no. 6 Maryland-Eastern Shore, going ahead by 54 pins with scores of 202, 185 and 215. The Hawks gained ground in the next two games, but the Knights knocked down enough pins of their own to hold on for a one-pin victory, 951-950, in a thrilling finish. Neal and Spring replaced MacLeod and Hart in FDU's lineup against UMES.
Closing out the day against no. 18 Wisconsin-Whitewater, the Knights took advantage of two big games in winning 993-935. The Knights totaled 180 pins or better in all five games but scored big advantages in games two and three, with a 224-184 finish to the second stanza and a 212-167 score in the third game powering the Burgundy and Blue to a sizable margin before closing out the match with enough pins to maintain their lead.
The Knights resume competition on Saturday with five traditional team matches beginning at 9:30 a.m., CT.
