NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. – The Felician College women's bowling team won both of its Baker best-of-7 position round matches on Sunday to move up two slots and finish 23rd out of 26 teams among a deep, talented field at the Fairleigh Dickinson University New Jersey Jamboree, held Friday through Sunday at Carolier Lanes. Felician posted a 4-8 dual-match record during the event.
Nineteen of the top 25 teams in the national NCAA preseasons all-divisions coaches' poll were a part of the tournament field. 191 individuals started at least one of the 10 traditional team matches held on Friday and Saturday.
The tournament format called for five traditional team games on Friday and five more on Saturday. The top six teams after 10 games were seeded into a championship bracket, while the rest were placed into various consolation brackets.
The Golden Falcons struggled to a team average of 156.0 during Friday's competition and went 1-4 in duals. Their only victory came by a two-pin margin, 838-836, over Bethune-Cookman University.
On Saturday, Felician upped its game, averaging 180.5 for the day. Sophomore right-handers Kaitlyn Stapleton (Washington Township, N.J./Westwood Regional) and Jessica Zalewski (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) started all five of Saturday's matches. Stapleton set a Golden Falcon one-day five-game record by shooting 1,000, and Zalewski fired a 970. However, Felician again went 1-4 in duals. The Golden Falcons defeated Saint Peter's University, 837-736, in Match 7, but fell to four nationally-ranked squads, including a 977-941 setback to No. 6 Sam Houston State University in Match 8.
Felician sat in 25th place at the end of each of the first two days. On Sunday, it defeated Morgan State University and Saint Peter's, both by 4-0 margins.
Zalewski, who completed Saturday's competition with a team-season high 233, averaged 185.5 for 10 games, and her total pinfall of 1,855 placed her 53rd in the individual standings. Sophomore Kristin Natoli (Freehold, N.J./Howell) shot a 225 game each day and toppled 1,394 pins in eight starts (174.3). She finished 93rd overall, and Stapleton was 100th with 1309 (seven games, 187.0 average).
No. 5-ranked Vanderbilt University won the tournament, going 3-0 on Sunday after entering the day as the third seed. Karsyn Lukosius of host Fairleigh Dickinson shot 2187 for 10 games and led all individuals.
