HAMILTON, N.J. – The 17th-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team wrapped up the Monmouth Hawk Flight Invite Sunday with a Baker playoff victory over no. 4 Vanderbilt to finish in third place out of 12 teams.
 
The Knights (57-38) fell in two matches to no. 10 Duquesne to start the day, one in their final qualifying match and in the first round of the Baker best four-of-seven bracket, but they bounced back with a win over the Commodores to finish the weekend with an 8-5 record. FDU finished the qualifying rounds in fourth place, averaging 209.6 pins per game in their 11 matches before the bracket.
 
Freshman Cameron Spring was named to the All-Tournament Team, starting in all of FDU's Baker matches as well as all six traditional matches. Spring led the Knights and was fourth in the tournament field with a 223.8 individual average. Junior Amanda Chrzanowski also placed in the top-10 in the individual standings with a 214.7 average across her six games.

"We held our own all weekend long and did our best to score with the teams that are more accustomed to scoring at a 200+ clip," head coach Mike LoPresti said. "While we came up a bit short in most of our defeats, it's a great sign how we rallied against Vandy in our last match to take home a trophy. It's a real accomplishment for our team especially in March to defeat top-ranked teams. It should boost our level of play leading into the conference tournament."
 
FDU went against first-place and unbeaten Duquesne in the final traditional team qualifying match and dropped a close 1083-1058 battle with their NEC rival. Spring led the FDU charge with a high score of 241, her best in her six traditional matches, while both Chrzanowski (224) and sophomore Lanasia Neal (222) supplied big scores for the Knights as well. Seniors Samantha Hart (195) and Brianna MacLeod (176) filled out the scorecard for FDU with competitive rounds.
 
The Knights again faced the Dukes in the first round of the Baker playoff bracket, this time falling 4-1 in five games. Duquesne won both the first two games, 214-194 and 201-189, to take a 2-0 lead before the Knights responded with a 243-186 victory in the third game. The Dukes, however, edged out the Knights by four pins, 209-205, in game four and then went on to end the match with a 173-162 win in the fifth game. Spring, Neal, Chrzanowski, Hart and junior Aimee Sherman all bowled for the Knights as their Baker lineup.
 
With junior Jenna Henderson subbing in for Chrzanowski in the next match, FDU then battled Vanderbilt for third place, and the two teams went back and forth before the Knights came out on top, 4-3. The Commodores took the first game by 17 pins, but the Knights rallied back with a 249-137 win in the second game. The back-and-forth continued with Vanderbilt taking game three (205-177) and FDU tying the match at 2-2 with a 225-182 win in the fourth stanza. The Knights then pulled in front with a 232-158 advantage in the fifth installment, but the Commodores stayed alive in the sixth game with a 215-189 win. In the decisive seventh leg, FDU battled its way to a 199-184 win to end the day in third place.

FDU competes again this upcoming weekend at the Northeast Roundup, a tournament they are co-hosting at Bowlerama in Wilmington, Del., from Saturday, March 7 through Sunday, March 8.