UMES HEADS TO FINAL DAY OF MORGAN STATE INVITE IN THIRD PLACE
TOWSON, Md. -After a tough opening day at the Morgan State Invitational, UMES bounced back on day two to climb from sixth to third place and have a shot at winning the championship heading into the final day on Sunday, Feb. 17th. UMES made up for the tough start on day one with a 4-1 record and stand 7-3 overall in the event.
UMES dominated in team games on Saturday, picking up a win over Nebraska to open the day (1105-1008), and then topping Elmhurst (926-861), Fayetteville State (991-821) and Livingstone (957-577). The Hawks' lone loss came to Central Missouri in the second match 947-929.
The Hawks opened up against the Huskers and were on fire. All five bowlers hit the 200 pinfall mark with T'nia Falbo leading the way with a 247. Megan Buja added a 237 while Kristie Lopez tossed a 212. Coming off her MEAC Bowler of the Week honor, Anggie Ramirez added a 209 while countrywoman Valentina Collazos bowled an even 200.
With the Jennies up next UMES would need another big effort from everyone, but Falbo was the only one to deliver, rolling a 226. Everyone else could not reach 200. If they had, UMES could have won, but they came up short, losing by 18 pins.
The Hawks tossed five more games of 200 in the next three matches, taking advantage of the lesser opponents to pick up some wins and bolster their standings. Lopez put a 248 and 259 back-to-back while Ramirez had a 226, Falbo a 210 and Victoria Jones (Baltimore, Md.) came in to post a 225 in the Livingstone win.
On the previous day UMES struggled to put up any kind of count, rolling an abysmal 120 in game four of the Bakers against Norfolk State to lose by 13 pins. They had been leading the match by 50 pins. That loss was devastating and set the tone for the day. While they rebounded to beat North Carolina Central (727-669), North Carolina A&T (832-609) and Bethune-Cookman (748-703), they would drop the final match of the day to Arkansas State 867-784, not putting up enough pins and ended the day in sixth place overall.
But the solid day two catapulted the Hawks up the standings to third, setting up a best four-of-seven Baker game match with second-seeded Nebraska with a date to bowl in the finals on the line.
The University of Central Missouri leads the 25-team field heading into the final day. With Nebraska and UMES second and third, Arkansas State is seeded-fourth while Norfolk State, Sacred Heart, Saint Francis (PA.), Delaware State, Bethune-Cookman and St. Francis-Brooklyn round out the top ten.
For the complete story, visit www.umeshawks.com.
UMES TAKES MORGAN STATE INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
TOWSON, Md. -For the seventh time this season, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) claimed an event championship, this time knocking off Nebraska and Arkansas State, both 4-1, to take first-place at the 2013 installment of the James Brown Invitational, hosted by Morgan State University.
After overcoming a rough day one, finishing in sixth place, the Hawks rebounded to finish day two in third place. That set up a match on day three with second-seeded Nebraska in the best four-of-seven Baker series.
UMES got off to a game one win with a 225-168 score. The Huskers rebounded to win game two 258-203, but the Hawks would rally to take the next three games, 200-189, 206-143 and 216-153, and the match 4-1. The line-up of Victoria Jones, Megan Buja, Valentina Collazos, Anggie Ramirez and T'nia Falbo put all five games of the match above 200.
That same line-up then took on fourth-seeded Arkansas State for the championship. The Red Wolves defeated the top seed Jennies of Central Missouri in the first round. UMES took game one by a pin, 194-193. That gave the Hawks momentum into game two to win 215-157. Game three saw the Red Wolves rebound and post a 191-176 win but that is the only win they would get. Trailing in game four the Hawks got a break and closed out the game 246-231. They then posted a 246-230 win in game five to take the match and the tournament championship, the second in the last two weeks.
Kristie Lopez was named to the All-Tournament Team for her outing yesterday, taking fourth overall with a 211.4 with a 1,057 pin fall over five games. Falbo was the next highest finisher for the Hawks in 24th, averaging a 196.8.
The Red Wolves took runner-up honors while Nebraska topped top-seeded Central Missouri for third, giving the Jennies a fourth place finish. Sacred Heart topped Norfolk State to take fifth and hand the Spartans a sixth place finish. Delaware State, Saint Francis (Pa.), Faireligh Dickinson and Long Island-Brooklyn rounded out the top ten.
Bethune-Cookman, St. Francis-Brooklyn, New Jersey City, Hampton and Kutztown were the next five finishers.
For the complete story, visit www.umeshawks.com.
Spartans Finish 6th At James Brown Invitational
TOWSON, Md. - The No. 14 Norfolk State bowling team finished sixth and went 9-3 over the weekend at the 25-team James Brown Invitational hosted by Morgan State at the AMF Towson Lanes.
The Spartans went a perfect 5-0 on the first day and picked up wins over seven ranked opponents throughout the weekend. NSU, which faced ranked teams in 10 of the 12 matches on the weekend, ran its overall record on the season to 49-29.
A total of 14 of the 20 programs in the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) coaches poll participated in the tournament. Only two teams posted a better record on the weekend than NSU's 9-3 mark.
NSU went 3-2 on the second day in team play and then 1-1 in the bracket portion of the tournament on Sunday. On Saturday in team play, Thea Aspiras led the way for the Spartans with a 209.2 average in all five games, finishing sixth at the tournament in average. Kelsea Yarbrough knocked down exactly 1,000 pins to average a 200.0 in five games as well.
Sheila-Marie Smith posted a 197.0 average in all five games, while Jessica Overton tallied a 185.2 average in five games. Carrie Hickey bowled four games and averaged 164.3, while Courtney Brown competed in the other game on the day.
On Friday in Baker play, NSU got things started off with a bang, posted a big 717-704 win over No. 2 UMES. The Spartans followed that up with an easy 787-682 victory over Hampton, and then had an even easier time with No. 10 St. Francis (Pa.), 853-693.
NSU wrapped up the day with victories over Morgan State, 761-658, and No. 7 Fairleigh Dickinson, 756-693.
The Spartans continued to roll in the early part of Saturday in team play, downing No. 11 Kutztown, 1,017-892, and No. 17 New Jersey City, 924-884. NSU then suffered setbacks to No. 20 Delaware State, 1,004-990, and to No. 12 Sacred Heart, 917-901. The team wrapped up the second day of competition with a 928-888 win over No. 16 Long Island.
Then on the third and final day of competition, the Spartans got a measure of revenge over Delaware State in Baker play, 4-1. NSU fell in a heartbreaker to Sacred Heart, 4-3, in the fifth-place match, after holding a 3-2 lead at one point in the match.
For the complete story, visit www.nsuspartans.com.