Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) women's bowling team posted a 2-2 mark on the second day of the United State Bowling Congress (USBC) Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITCs), falling 4-1 to second-seeded Webber International in an elimination match to end the Hawks' season.
The Lady Hawks opened with a 4-2 win over Erie Community College. The Kats came out and surprised the Hawks, taking a 180-155 game one win in the best of seven Baker series. UMES responded with a 215-154 topping in game two and a 2-7-193 win in game three. The Hawks posted a 20 pin win in game four, 173-153 before Erie made a rally to win 175-156. UMES closed out the win 178-168 in the deciding game six.
Staying in the winner's bracket the Hawks had to take on Pikeville who posted a 4-0 win in the opening round over Wright State. The sixth-seeded Lady Bears made quick work of the Hawks in a 4-1 win. The NAIA bowling power from Kentucky picked up a tough 190-187 win in game one before the Hawks screeched back to take the 210-200 win in game two. From there it was all Pikeville as the 2008 Champions took games three through five (225-157, 189-177, 218-189).
Now in the contender's bracket, UMES fended off elimination with a quick 4-0 win over 15th seeded St. Ambrose (170-146, 165-152, 204-187, 182-172). At the same time second-seeded Webber International rolled to a 4-0 win over Erie C.C. Webber, who had fallen to seventh-seeded Robert Morris earlier, now was in an elimination match with the third seeded Hawks.
The Warriors, an NAIA school from Babson Park, Fla., jumped on UMES posting four games over 200 for the 4-1 win. They took game one 204-91 and game two 195-167 before UMES cut the deficit to 2-1 with a 203-201 victory in game three. Webber International then went on to pick up games four and five 224-186 and 211-189, eliminating UMES from the event and leaving them in seventh place overall.
The event was the last of the season for the Lady Hawks who finish with an NCAA record of 103-37. There were no NCAA matches played today at the ITCs.
UMES carries no seniors and hopes the four returning All-Americans along with their NTCA National Coach of the Year Sharon Brummell will spell another great season for the Hawks who ended the year ranked second in the last NTCA poll.
"We had a great year," said Brummell. "We wanted to bring home some hardware, but we still grabbed two great finishes this season and picked up some well-deserved individual honors. We plan to be back next year, better than ever, looking to have a spectacular senior season for a few of my young ladies in their final year."