The Fairleigh Dickinson University women's bowling team reached the championship match of the KU Golden Bears Invitational on Sunday, Jan. 31, but fell to UMES to finish second. FDU was 11-4 this weekend to improve to 48-20 overall on the season.
UMES finished first, the Knights were second, NJCU finished third, Kutztown was fourth and the University of Central Missouri rounded out the top five.
The Knights had four matches on Sunday, with the first two quad baker game matches finishing up the seeding to create brackets.
In the first match of the day, Fairleigh Dickinson defeated Valparaiso, 741-666. "There was a big 221 game that put the match out of reach and won it for the Knights," said Head Coach Mike LoPresti.
Against UMES in the second match, the FDU fought hard but fell, 846-779. Due to total pin fall, the Knights were able to hold on as the third seed and faced off against the second seed, NJCU, in the championship bracket.
In the best-of-seven matches, Fairleigh Dickinson won against NJCU, 4-0 (217-197, 201-191, 217-208, 192-183). "They were four very tough, close matches," said LoPresti.
The win against No. 2 NJCU earned Fairleigh Dickinson a spot in the championship match against UMES, who defeated Kutztown in the No. 1 vs. No. 4 match.
Fairleigh Dickinson dropped the championship match to UMES, 4-1. "The Knights had a lot of fight, but just wasn't enough," said LoPresti. The Hawks picked up the first two games (243-165, 223-195), before FDU bounced back to take the third game, 235-191. But UMES won the final two games to take the match (205-178, 215-177).
This is the second consecutive year that the Knights finished second in this tournament, as they fell to Delaware State in the championship match last season.
Individually, Joely Carrillo (Clifton, NJ/Paramus Catholic) led Fairleigh Dickinson, earning a spot on the All-Star team with the fourth highest average overall (216.33). Sara Litteral (Chesterfield, MI/L'anse Creuse North) had the 10th highest average (211.17) and Erica Perez (Carteret, New Jersey/Carteret) posted the 12th highest (208.33).
"We are a highly competitive team; we love to battle," said LoPresti. "This weekend we really came to play; our level of intensity was the best that it has been all year. It helped us get through a lot of tough spots throughout the weekend. We put ourselves in a great opportunity to win the championship. We are a hard-working team that is extremely motivated. We had some players, like Joely Carrillo (Clifton, NJ/Paramus Catholic) and Nichole Toto (Piscataway, New Jersey/Bishop George Ahr), who came up really big this weekend.""
"Right now UMES is the hottest team in the country. They are deep and talented and this weekend, they were just too much for us. But it is a long season and we think we can match up with them in the long run. They got us this weekend, but next weekend we will have another shot."
