HAMILTON, N.J. – The 17th-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team piled up impressive team scores and finished 4-1 in the first day of the Monmouth Hawk Flight Invite on Friday at Hamilton Lanes.
 
The Knights (53-34) defeated two ranked opponents in host Monmouth (no. 22) and NEC rival LIU (no. 25) along with earning wins over Felician and another NEC foe St. Francis Brooklyn. FDU averaged 207.2 pins per game across their five matches, totaling 5,181 pins in 250 frames. The Knights sit in fifth place in the 12-team tournament standings after the first day of play behind four other ranked teams, and the Knights were one of only three teams to compile at least four victories on Friday.
 
FDU started a lineup of freshman Cameron Spring, sophomore Lanasia Neal, junior Amanda Chrzanowski, junior Aimee Sherman and senior Samantha Hart in each of the first four matches. Sophomore Jenna Henderson then started in place of Neal in FDU's final match of the day against Monmouth.
 
"Today was the best we've scored all season and it led us to an outstanding 4-1 match record for the day," head coach Mike LoPresti said. "With amazingly high scores by everyone in the field, I'm pleased how we were able to keep pace with the tournament leaders and keep us in striking range. We'll need to be in the top four to have a shot at the tourney championship. With six matches left in the qualifying round, I believe we can capture one of those spots."
 
The Knights began their day with a big win by 100 pins over their NEC rival St. Francis Brooklyn, 1073-973. The Terriers jumped in front by 54 pins to start the game, but FDU quickly rebounded by scoring over 200 in the next four games. FDU completely erased its deficit and gained the lead with a 220-164 win in game two, then added to their margin with scores of 212-200, 248-196, and 211-177 in the next three to close it out.
 
A strong rally of eight straight strikes led to a huge game score of 278 that propelled the Knights to eventually win 1083-855 over no. 25 LIU. The Knights then scored 212, 212, and 213 pins in their next three games and also tallied eight more pins (168-160) than LIU in the final game to continually increase the gap. The single-game score of 278 matches the highest in a Baker match by FDU this season.
 
FDU then suffered its lone setback of the day against no. 24 Wilmington, 1071-990. The Knights trailed by 86 pins after the first two games, but they gained back 48 pins with a 216-168 advantage in the third game. The Knights, however, could not cut further into the deficit in the next two games, falling behind 236-202 and then 198-189 in the final game.
 
The Knights started out with the advantage in their fourth match against Felician, going up 187-171 and 214-169 in the first 20 frames to take a 61-pin lead. Felician, however, gained back 49 pins on the Knights in the third game, but the Knights then bounced back with a 212 in the next game to Felican's 171, giving FDU the cushion it needed down the stretch to end up winning 935-901.
 
FDU then ended the day with its best team performance against host Monmouth. The Knights won the match 1100-881, scoring over 200 in each of the five games with single-game totals of 227, 202, 242, 225 and 204 to earn the victory. Senior Brianna MacLeod subbed in for Spring before the beginning of the third game to add to FDU's totals in the final three games.
 
The Knights return to action tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m., for five traditional matches that features battles against top-five ranked teams in no. 2 Sam Houston State (FDU's first opponent) and no. 4 Vanderbilt.