BETHLEHEM, Pa. - No. 12 Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling (56-33, 9-8 NEC) rolled the competition on the day one of the final Northeast Conference meet of the regular season Saturday with the Knights winning all three of their Baker total pinfall matches, clinching a spot in the 2022 Northeast Conference Championship.

Starting things off with a 142-pin rout of St. Francis Brooklyn, FDU would go on to top No. 19 Sacred Heart 985-984 and go home happy following a 66-pin victory over No. 11 Duquesne. Rewinding to the day-opening match against the Terriers, FDU was up just three pins after the first game before starting to break away in the second and, 214-136 and 215-180, respectively. St. Francis Brooklyn would bounce back to take the fourth by nine pin, 178-169, followed by FDU's dagger in the form of a 33-pin fifth game victory, 193-160. The final of match one was 964-824.

In the middle contest of the afternoon in the Keystone State, FDU and the Pioneers were neck-and-neck, separated by just five pins following the first. The Knights would begin to build a sizable advantage using the Baker system to their advantage with the Burgundy and Blue tacking on an additional 222 pins while SHU put up just 190. Game three was decided in a similar fashion with the Knights topping the Fairfield, Conn. school 204-168. The Knights would drop the final two games 214-208 and 238-172.

Closing-out the opening day of the meet, FDU topped Duquesne from the jump 266-202 in the first before dropping the next two games. Mike LoPresti's side took control in the fourth, 198-151, while the Dukes took the final game 213-196. FDU would defeat the NEC associate member 1,078-1,012.

"We had a great start for this extremely important weekend. But we still have plenty of work to do," commented LoPresti.

The Knights' lineup produced some impressive numbers starting with junior Cameron Spring. The Allegany, N.Y. product shot for strikes in 16 of 30 tries while filling 26 of her 30 frames bowled. Similarly, graduate student Aimee Sherman filled 26 of her 30 frames, as did fellow fifth-year and reigning NEC Bowler of the Year Jenna Henderson and redshirt-sophomore Julianna Spina. Spina and Henderson each shot 16 strikes (16-30). Bowling anchor for the Knights was graduate student Amanda Chrzanowski who had herself a day on the lanes, filling 24 of her 30 frames bowled, shooting a remarkable 34-for-49 strikes, a mark of .694.

FDU continues play tomorrow, March 6, with four all important Baker total pinfall matches with NEC postseason seeding at stake beginning with a match against Saint Francis U (Pa.) at 8:25 a.m.