HAMILTON, N.J. – FDU women's bowling captured their sixth NEC Championship on Sunday in Hamilton, N.J. The Knights defeated Duquesne 2-1 in a mega match and secured their ticket for the NCAA Bowling Championship for the 16^th time in school history.

FDU's route to the championship match was a dominant one. The Knights were the #1 seed and defeated #4 Monmouth 2-0 in the opening round. In the winner's bracket championship, they downed #3 Mercyhurst 2-0.

The win over Mercyhurst began with a thrilling one-pin victory in the traditional round. Allysha Howard struck out in the tenth frame to lift the Knights to a 1-0 advantage in the mega match.

Championship Sunday delivered an exceptional conclusion the 2025 NEC women's bowling season. The top two seeds showed why they were in the position that they were.

The traditional round came down to the wire. Allysha Howard stepped up in the tenth frame and needed a strike, followed by a final frame of at least a nine, to win the game. She picked up a strike, recorded an eight and then knocked down a single game-winning pin on the final throw.

Leading 1-0, the Knights had Duquesne against the wall. The Dukes responded with a 1090 in the baker best-of-five round. This bested the Knights by over 100 pins and leveled the match at 1-1.
The match would be decided in a baker best-of-seven game series. Duquesne's momentum continued to roll, and they quickly were ahead 2-0. FDU did not back down but instead raised their level, eventually tying the match at 2-2.

Duquesne capitalized on two FDU open frames in the fifth and won game five. The Knights were trailing after seven frames in game six. The quartet of Emily Fogarty, Jadeyn Mabry, Amy Chrzanowski and Howard put together six consecutive strikes to end the game. It was now tied 3-3.

Game seven was back-and-forth. Duquesne had a late lead but did not strike in the tenth frame. This opened the door for FDU. Chrzanowski struck to set up the tenth for Howard. The senior captain struck and then converted a single-pin spare two throws later to tie the match. The tie meant the match would be decided in a five-frame roll off.

FDU struck on four of their first five throws in the roll off. This run began with senior Shayna Jimenez, who was phenomenal all day. Howard needed just five pins to win the match. She delivered and FDU hosted the trophy.

WHAT'S NEXT
FDU will learn their NCAA regional destination on Wednesday, March 26. The NCAA Selection Show will stream on ncaa.com at 4 p.m. Regional competition begins on April 3.