Bowling | 10/20/2024 6:47:00 PM

ROCKFORD, Illinois — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks concluded the final day of competition in their season opener tournament with a trio of victories to secure the Warhawk Classic tournament championship. 

Along with the tournament victory, Mariana Santos Rivero was named to the All-Tournament team after capping the first five matches with the fifth best pin total of the tournament with 956. Each of the Hawks' five bowlers finished in the Top 14 of the individual standings with Brooke Driver (887 pins) finishing ninth while Gabriella Ochoa Hubbard (869), Mariane Almeida (858) and Ara Pitts (851) finished 12th through 14th, respectively. 

The Hawks' victory also marked the first tournament win in Ronald Simms Jr.'s debut as the program's head coach. 

"Can't help but be excited about not only what took place this weekend, but our future," Simms said. "Still got more work to do, but saw a lot of growth and togetherness. Just grinded our way through it." 

Entering the tournament ranked No. 16 in 2024-25 Preseason Coaches Poll by the National Tenpin Coaches Association, the Hawks capped their weekend with a 10-4 record after finishing 4-1 on Friday before following up with a 3-2 mark on Saturday. 

UMES earned the second seed heading into Sunday's championship bracket, kicking off the day against host and No. 22 Wisconsin-Whitewater. The host team had swept UMES in the duo's first two matchups of the weekend, 925-883 and 958-897, but the Hawks took opening matchup of the championship 4-2 to automatically advance to the finals where they took a decisive 4-1 win against Wisconsin-Whitewater in the championship finale. 

"We just got more and more comfortable understanding the conditions we were bowling on and making adjustments as we went along. Just staying the course," Simms said. "The big thing was just staying together because in this sport you get a lot of highs and lows. One game you're on it and everything is going your way, and the next day it all falls apart it seems like. Just maintaining a balance and understanding you can control what you can control. I think the ladies did a great job of that this weekend." 

UMES earned two wins to start off the tournament, 950-875 over Aurora and 802-771 against Carroll. While UMES dropped its third match to Wisconsin-Whitewater, the team responded with a high-scoring 997-917 win against the University of Indianapolis before closing the first day out with a 906-732 win against Carthage College. 

The Hawks stayed on the right side of the ledger through Saturday, as well, with three victories, including a 917-810 win against Marian, a 894-871 win against Aurora, and a final 932-777 win against Carroll. UMES dropped a pair of games against Elmhurst, 834-781, and a second against Wisconsin-Whitewater. 

"We just want to take this momentum into this next weekend, and continue to grow and continue to learn and understand the areas we can get better in," Simms said. "By no means was this weekend what you would call mistake free, but we were able to push our way through it, fight through it, continue to learn and grow." 

Working on a short week, UMES will travel to Dyer, Indiana, for the Valpo Bowling Classic for a three-day tournament beginning on Oct. 25. For all Hawk bowling results, visit - https://umeshawksports.com/sports/womens-bowling/schedule