MILLSBORO, Del. - No. 8 Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling (24-17, 3-4 NEC) finished second after competing in 12 matches against nationally-ranked opponents this weekend at the Hawk Classic hosted by No. 20 Maryland Eastern Shore.

Beginning with Baker total pinfall action, Mike LoPresti's Knights opened up play in the three-day tournament with a 1,082-834 win over the hosting Hawks at Millsboro Lanes. After falling to No. 4 Vanderbilt 1,094-889, the Knights bounced back to finish off the first day of competition with back-to-back wins over No. 19 Monmouth, 1,074-874, and No. 6 Sam Houston by a 1,009-940 pinfall.

Moving to Saturday action which was comprised of traditional scoring (total pinfall), the Knights finished 1-3. Against No. 5 North Carolina A&T, the Knights fell by the slimmest of margins with the Aggies taking the bout 950-948. FDU then fell to No. 7 Youngstown State 1,022-987 before cruising to a 1,084-1,011 victory over No.14 Delaware State. The Burgundy and Blue then dropped the final two matches of the afternoon, 895-881 to No. 25 Adelphi, and 983-956 to No. 13 Mount St. Mary's. In traditional play, FDU was led by redshirt sophomore Julianna Spina who bowled a team-high 1,059 in five matches. Spina bowled a 234 against NCAT before rolling 180 against Youngstown and later regained her momentum with a 257 against Delaware State.

On the final day of competition (Sunday, 11/21), the Burgundy and Blue took part in three Baker match play bouts which saw FDU again face NCAT, Vanderbilt and Sam Houston. Coming out of the game with back-to-back victories, FDU finished off the Aggies in six games with the Knights winning 4-2. In the middle match LoPresti's side went the distance with Vandy and left victorious in a 4-3 victory over the Commodores. In the final game of the tournament, FDU fell to Sam Houston in four games.

"There's plenty of reasons to be proud of our performance this weekend," said LoPresti. "We competed in the title match of an event with a stacked field and we were able to score with some of the nation's top teams for the entire weekend. These are accomplishments that generate momentum leading into the spring semester. At the same time our swift and humbling defeat to Sam Houston in the title match indicates we still have a ways to go to get where we need to be."

LoPresti continued, "Julianna Spina had a highly productive tournament and was rewarded by being selected to the All-Tournament Team. Her triple in the 10th frame of game seven in the best-of-seven semifinal match against Vanderbilt got us into the championship match. It was one of the most clutch performances of our season. Now that our fall semester schedule has come to a close, we have grown as a group and have made improvements in all facets of the game. We clearly have work to do, but overall we had a positive first half."

FDU women's bowling returns to action on Friday, January 21, as the Knights bowl in the Northeast Regional Classic hosted by LIU and Sacred Heart at Bowlero Deptford in Deptford, N.J.