MILLSBORO, Del. — It wasn’t a great day for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) women’s bowling team, they posted just a 2-4 record over six Baker games. However, the talent shone through just enough to keep the Hawks in contention as they stand in fifth place overall after day one of the 2014 Hawk Classic sponsored by Brunswick.
The format for the event is six matches each of the first two days before a three-match best-four-of seven Baker format bracket play on Sunday. Today the 18 teams bowled five-game Bakers, with total pins deciding the winner. Tomorrow, the teams bowl the traditional team games.
Things started well for UMES on Friday, taking a 945-898 win over No. 12 Kutztown. While it wasn’t a ton of pins, it got the job done, with the Hawks tossing games of 181, 190, 210, 190 and 174. The Bears won games two and five, with scores of 192 and 193 but in this format, only total pins matter.
Match number two pitted UMES against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) foe Norfolk State. While UMES typically has the Spartans number, the Hawks could not get it together, posting games of 141, 200, 186, 193 and 191. In contrast, NSU rolled a 183, 192, 198, 199 and 178. UMES won the second and fifth games and over the last four, tallied a 770 to the Spartan’s 767. The first game woe was too much for UMES to dig out from and they fell 950-911.
The third match saw the Hawks get going. They topped No. 11 Sacred Heart 1,062-867. UMES opened with a 237 and kept on the pressure by tallying a 191, then stumbled with a 159 but rebounded to roll a 218 and 257. Sacred Heart’s best game was just a 192 so UMES rolled and looked to continue the hot bowling.
They couldn’t. Next up was the Terriers of St. Francis-Brooklyn. They jumped out on the Hawks early with scores of 213 and 219. They gave UMES an opening in game three with a 156, but came back to toss a 180 and a 203. UMES wasn’t bad during the five-game stretch, tossing a 175, 171, 183, 225 and 183. But there were too many pons separating each game and UMES fell 971-937.
Game five was another struggle. They faced off against the seventh ranked Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson. FDU led almost the entire day and were putting up solid numbers throughout. The Knights opened with a 236 and UMES mustered just a 171. They would have to play catch-up down 67 pins. UMES won game two 195-177 and cut the gap a little with the 18 pin win. FDU extended their lead from there on out with a 192, 208 and 207 while UMES had a 165, 155 and 205. They fell 1,020-891.
The final match of the day was a position round with the two pools of teams. UMES would take on their old rival Delaware State in a battle of the third and fourth seeds within the pool. The No. 19 Hornets fell last weekend to UMES twice, but today they jumped on the struggling Hawks. DSU took a six pin lead after game one, 186-180 and extended that with a 216-180 win in game two. The Hawks got 10 pins back in game three, 212-202 but gave them right back in the fourth game, 184-174. Up 42 pins, they extended it in game five 214-206 and got the 1002-952 win.
There is plenty of precedence for that. In the 2010 Hawk Classic, the Hawks opened the day in 6th place. They turned it around to climb the ladder and finish first after day two, going a perfect 5-0. They would ride that top seed to a 3-0 record on day three and earn their first Hawk Classic title. Of course UMES went on to win both National Championships that season.
The next year UMES took seventh in the field after day one and turned it around to climb to third place at the end of day two.
At the end of day one, Fairleigh Dickinson leads the field with a 4-2 record and 6,110 pins. Reigning National Champion Sam Houston State is in second with a 5-1 mark and 5,937 pins, 173 out of first. Upstart North Carolina A&T is in third overall with 5,909 pins and an impressive 6-0 mark with wins over FDU, Vanderbilt and Stephen F Austin to name a few.
Vanderbilt is in fourth place overall with the same 2-4 mark UMES holds. They have tallied 5,764 pins, 66 more than UMES who stands in fifth. Stephen F. Austin, who struggled like UMES on the day, is 3-3 overall and in sixth place with 5,677 pins. Those two will face each other in the morning.
Delaware State is in seventh with a 4-2 mark, Sacred Heart is in eighth with the same record, St. Francis (Pa.) is ninth at 5-1 and Long Island is 3-3 in tenth place. St. Francis-Brooklyn, Norfolk State, Kutztown, Monmouth, Franklin Pierce, Adelphi, Howard and New Jersey City round out the 11th-18th place teams.
Tomorrow, the day starts at 8:00 a.m. The event features a senior day ceremony on Saturday at noon, where UMES will honor their four graduating seniors, Mariana Alvarado, Victoria Jones, Tatiana Munoz and Valerie Riggin. After that recognition, UMES will honor all seniors competing in the event.