Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) defeated Pikeville 4-1 and fellow NCAA school Kutztown 4-3 at the United State Bowling Congress (USBC) Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITCs) to remain in the winner's bracket.
After earning the fifth seed in yesterday's seeding round, the Hawks drew the 12th seeded Pikeville College Bears. UMES opened play with a 4-1 win, topping the Bears 239-168, 181-158 and 179-146 to go up 3-0. The Bears got a game four win, 179-170 but the Hawks quickly rebounded to win game five 179-148 and sent Pikeville to the loser's bracket.
UMES got some help in their quest in round one as top-seeded Central Florida lost to 16th seeded Newman, 4-1. Also winning in that first round was Kutztown. The fourth-seeded Golden Bears defeated Bellarmine 4-1 to advance to a date with UMES in round two. When the two last meant the Hawks eliminated Kutztown from the NCAA Tournament 4-2.
This time would be slightly different, but produce the same results, as the Lady Hawks won 4-3. It was touch and go for a while. UMES took a 2-0 lead, 198-181 and 220-193 but the Golden Bears came whizzing back. Kutztown won games three through five, 173-170, 233-192 and 223-211. Now down 3-2 UMES faced elimination. They rebounded to tie the game at three all, 200-175 and force a deciding game seven.
In the final game it would come down to the tenth frame. After Kutztown's anchor threw a strike on her first ball it forced UMES anchor and National Player of the Year Maria Rodriguez to throw a strike to preserve the three pin lead. No problem. Rodriguez struck and just needed eight pins over the next two balls to seal the win. She got nine and clinched the UMES win 181-179. Kutztown falls into the loser's bracket with the loss.
Adelphi, another NCAA school in the event lost their first match to the defending champions Webber International 4-0, but bounced back in round two with a 4-2 win over West Texas A&M, eliminating them from the event. Wisconsin-Whitewater, the final NCAA school was eliminated in round two by top seeded Central Florida 4-0. They lost their opener in a seven games to Robert-Morris (Ill.).
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