ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) women’s bowling team entered just their third Eastern Collegiate Athletic Championships (ECAC) on Saturday looking to defeat the only top ten team in the country they hadn’t topped, Fairleigh Dickinson. 

Mission accomplished.

The Hawks defeated No. 2 Fairleigh Dickinson 991-939 in the third match of the day to pick up a huge win.

Six teams entered the field, meaning day one was comprised of five matches, all five-game Baker sets, decided on total pinfall.  UMES rolled through the first four, including the FDU win, but ended with a minor setback to No. 14 Saint Francis-Brooklyn.  Still, the Hawks set out to accomplish their goal, finish in the top two and set themselves up for a Sunday bye into the championship.

UMES took second place overall with 4,650 pins over those matches, second to FDU’s 4,853.  The Hawks averaged just a 186 on the difficult pattern, with FDU not much better at 194.1.  The Terriers of St. Francis-Brooklyn were the victors in the win/loss column, topping both UMES and FDU to go 5-0, but their pinfall placed them in third place overall.  FDU went 3-2 and the Hawks 4-1.

St. Peter’s, New Jersey City and Caldwell all went 1-4 on the day and finished fourth through sixth respectively.

The Hawks opened the day with a dominating 902-563 win over Caldwell.  Getting their feet wet on the fresh oil, the line-up of Victoria Jones, Valerie Riggin, Tatiana Munoz, Thashaina Seraus and Mariana Alvarado posted games of 185, 180, 158, 200 and 179.

UMES fared much better in the second match with one under their belt.  They toppled New Jersey City 1002-724, posting games of 201, 174, 232, 192 and 203.  Freshman Melanie Copey saw action in the match, helping the team to the 232 game.

Next up was the FDU match.  UMES put up games of 225, 266, their high game of the day, 188, 140, and 171.  Even when they struggled in the fourth game, so did the Knights, tossing just one pin better at a 141.  That preserved the win despite FDU tossing a 225 in game five and giving UMES the victory of the nation’s #2 team.

St. Peter’s was up next.  UMES had just seen the Peacocks last weekend at the Music City Classic.  The result was the same, although it was a little closer with UMES taking a 923-800 win, rolling games of 199, 160, 164, 209 and 191.

The final match was the toughest for UMES, who didn’t post very good scores.  Tossing games of 151, 146, 194, 162 and 179, the Terriers took advantage, rolling 165, 181, 194, 172, and 220, taking the win over the Hawks, 932-832.

UMES went 4-1 on the day and will bowl a position round first thing Sunday against #1 FDU.