UMES finishes fourth at Hawk Classic
MILLSBORO, Del. — The women’s bowling team came out a little sluggish to start day three of the Hawk Classic, but quickly got it together to pull out a pair of important wins, putting them in the third place match at the Hawk Classic. They would defeat No. 10 Saint Francis (Pa.) 4-3 (avenging yesterday’s only loss) and No. 11 Sacred Heart 4-2 before falling to No. 3 Sam Houston State 4-1 to finish the Hawk Classic in fourth place.
UMES Head Coach Kayla Bandy used her veteran lineup to start the final day, which was played in the best-four-of-seven Baker format. Tatiana Munoz led-off each match with fellow senior Valerie Riggin in second, senior Victoria Jones in third, senior All-American Mariana Alvarado in fourth and junior Thashaina Seraus in anchor.
UMES struggled to string together the strikes early on against the Red Flash. SFPA jumped out to an early 3-0 lead (190-183, 246-169, 226-167), but the Hawks found their groove after that. They staved off elimination each of the next three games (233-175, 213-150, 245-155). It came down to a seventh and final game, and what a game it was. In the end UMES pulled out the win, by one pin, 204-203 behind Seraus. She needed nine to win and that’s what she got. She missed the spare but it didn’t matter as the match was won and UMES was moving on.
Next up was Sacred Heart. The Pioneers fell to Sam Houston State in the three vs. four match, 4-1, and now faced the energized Hawks. UMES jumped out on SHU 189-162 in game one before the Pioneers edged the Hawks in game two, 203-192. UMES tossed an impressive 231 in game three to take a 2-1 lead as Sacred Heart mustered just a 171. UMES extended their lead to 3-1 with a 204-168 win in game four but the Pioneers never quit, taking game five 234-224. UMES did just enough in game six to get the win 4-1 with a 189-179 victory.
Next up was Bearkats of Sam Houston State. SHSU topped Sacred Heart in round one, but fell to Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-1 in the second round. They then had to battle the Hawks for third place. UMES started strong, going up 1-0 with a 179-168 game one win. After that however it was all Bearkats. Sam Houston edged the Hawks by just ten pins in game two, 176-166 to tie the match at one all. Game three was a slugfest with the two teams going back and forth. UMES opened the game with four straight strikes, but Sam Houston had six to end the match. A missed single-pin spare proved costly and the strike out by Sam Houston put it out of reach.
Down 2-1, UMES was just shy of winning game four, falling 190-182 before Sam Houston put it away in the fifth game 203-171 with UMES opening several frames, with the Bearkats avenging a loss to UMES from yesterday.
Fairleigh Dickinson won the tenth annual Hawk Classic sponsored by Brunswick, their first tournament win at the Hawk Classic since the event started in 2005. Their win keeps the title in the family of NCAA Champions as Vanderbilt, whom they defeated 4-1, took runner-up honors, and won five Hawk Classics. The host Hawks won the other three.
Saint Francis (Pa.) took fifth place, defeating Sacred Heart 4-1, who took sixth place. Stephen F. Austin took seventh place with a 4-0 win over North Carolina A&T, who finished eighth. Delaware State took ninth with a 4-1 win over Long Island-Brooklyn who finished tenth.
Kutztown, St. Francis-Brooklyn, Adelphi, Monmouth, Franklin Pierce, Norfolk State, Howard and New Jersey City rounded out the 11th-18th place teams.
UMES will next bowl in the MEAC Northern Division Meet #2, December 6 & 7, again at Millsboro Lanes as it is UMES’ turn to host. That will conclude the Hawk’s 2014 and they return after that January 16-18 at the Mid-Winter Invite hosted by Arkansas State.
For complete story, visit www.umeshawks.com
Bethune-Cookman finishes third at Hornet Invitational
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Bethune-Cookman bowling team grabbed a pair of wins in bracket play on Sunday, allowing the Wildcats to finish in third place at the Third Annual Hornet Invitational. Hosted by Alabama State, the three-day event was housed at the Brunswick Zone Bowling Lanes in Montgomery, Ala.
Seeded third to begin the final day of competition, a bracket play tournament taking place in Baker format, Bethune-Cookman began its title run against host Alabama State. The Wildcats fell in their opening match, 4-2.
In the first consolation contest, B-CU took down Jackson State by a count of 4-2.
The Cats were able to secure a third place finish for the weekend courtesy a victory in the third place/fourth place consolation final, avenging an earlier loss to Alabama State. The Cats defeated the Hornets by a 4-3 decision.
Tulane took top honors in the bracket, while UAB was second.
Bethune-Cookman will next compete in the second MEAC Southern Division event of the season in Norfolk, Va., hosted by Norfolk State on Dec. 6-7.
For complete story, visit www.bcuathletics.com
NSU Wraps Up UMES Hawk Classic
NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State bowling team finished up play in the three-day UMES Hawk Classic on Sunday, tallying a 7-8 record while ending the tournament in 16th place. Three of those victories came against ranked opponents.
The Spartans posted 3-3 records on Friday in baker play and then again on Saturday in traditional play. NSU won one of its three matches on Sunday in the bracket round to conclude the tournament.
Norfolk State picked up a big win over host and No. 5 UMES on Friday in the second game of the tournament, defeating the Hawks 950-911. The Spartans also defeated Howard 897-833 and New Jersey City 947-543.
NSU fell by scores of 1,026-774 to No. 3 Sam Houston State, 953-865 to No. 19 Delaware State and 946-875 to No. 12 Kutztown during Friday’s action, which consisted of five baker games against each opponent.
No player averaged better than 174 on Saturday in traditional play, but the Spartans were still able to come away with a split of their six games on the day. NSU alternated between wins and losses, picking up victories over No. 9 Stephen F. Austin, 802-772, New Jersey City, 820-612 and No. 20 Monmouth 946-926.
The win over Monmouth was aided by junior Carrie Hickey’s 242, the best game by an NSU player this year.
The Spartans also suffered losses on Saturday to No. 17 St. Francis Brooklyn, 833-718, No. 4 Vanderbilt, 951-870, and Franklin Pierce, 894-817.
Then on Sunday, NSU faced Franklin Pierce two more times. The Spartans were swept in four games in the best-of-seven format the first time, and then Franklin Pierce won 4-2 in the last match to claim 15th place ahead of the Spartans. In between, Norfolk State swept Howard by a 4-0 score.
Hickey and sophomore Nicole Rivera Santiago bowled in all six games on Saturday and averaged 169.0. Senior Ashley Buck competed in all six games as well and averaged 173.8, tops among NSU players on the weekend.
Senior Courtney Brown also averaged 169.0, albeit in just three games. Senior Kelsea Yarbrough competed in all six games, and senior Delilah Bethel took part in three games as well on Saturday.
A total of 18 games competed in the tournament.
NSU will next host the MEAC Southern Divisional on Dec. 6-7.
For complete story, visit www.nsuspartans.com