MIDLOTHIAN, Va. – The Felician College women's bowling team was the runner-up out of 11 teams in the Virginia Union University Invitational, held Friday through Sunday at Bowl America. The second-place finish represents the best team tournament result in the 1 ½ year history of the Felician program.
The Golden Falcons went 9-4 in their dual matches for the weekend. Sophomore right-hander Kristen Keller (Reading, Pa./Schuylkill Valley) was named to the event's All-Tournament Team.
The tournament called for five five-game Baker matches on Friday and six traditional team matches on Saturday. The final standings were then determined by Sunday's Baker playoff bracket.
Felician was in second place after Friday's competition, felling 4,359 pins during Baker play for a 174.4 average. The Golden Falcons also went 4-1 in dual matches. On Saturday, despite Keller firing a 989 for five starts in the traditional team format, Felician fell into third place. With a total of 9,484 (172.4 aveage), the Golden Falcons were trailing the only two nationally-ranked teams in the field, No. 24 Bowie State University (9,507, 172.9) and No. 15 Valparaiso University (10,613, 193.0).
In Sunday's position-round bracket, Felician first met fourth-place Mount Aloysius College and earned a 4-0 sweep. In the next round, the Golden Falcons faced Bowie State. After winning the first two games, Felician lost by three pins, then ground out a 160-156 win to move ahead, 3-1. The Bulldogs claimed the fifth game, but Felician emerged victorious, 203-188, in game 6 to claim the match.
In the finals, Valparaiso earned wins of 188-165, 189-195, and 204-159 in the first three games. The Golden Falcons extended the match with a 211-154 triumph in Game 4, but the Crusaders claimed the tournament championship by winning Game 5, 228-159.
During Saturday's team maches, Keller tied her own single-game Felician record with a 244 in Match 1, a match the Golden Falcons would lose to Valparaiso, 1036-939. Keller followed with games of 201, 224, and 191 before struggling to a 129 in Match 5 and sitting out Felician's bye in Match 6. Though she finished 15th overall out of 70 competitors, the all-tournament team was based on highest average among those making at least five starts. Keller nabbed the last spot on the five-player team with a 197.8 clip.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Stapleton (Washington Township, N.J./Westwood Regional) fired a 903 in five starts, including a 212 in Match 3. She finished 28th in the individual standings. Classmate Jessica Zalewski (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) was 30th with 894.
