ALTOONA, Pa. – The Felician University women's bowling team ended an 81-day layoff when it competed in the Red Flash Invitational, hosted by St. Francis (Pa.) University, on Friday through Sunday at Holiday Bowl. Felician enjoyed a 9-3 dual-match won-lost record for the weekend, and came in seventh place out of 17 teams.
The Golden Falcons were involved in tournament action for the first time since Nov. 4-6, when they placed 5th of 13 at the Virginia Union University Invitational.
At the Red Flash Invitational, the individual standings were compiled from the five traditional team matches contested on Saturday. Due to byes, the bowlers were ranked by tournament average. Nine of the 10 players in Felician's line-up started at least one match.
Junior right-hander Jessica Zalewski (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) and freshman righty Nicole Aumack (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) were the only Golden Falcons to start all five traditional matches. Aumack finished 24th out of 106 entrants with a 180.2 average (901), and Zalewski shot 820 (164.0 average) to place 56th. Junior Heather Androvich (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) was Felician's only bowler to break 200 on Saturday, shooting a 215 in the day's opening game and 524 for three games.
The tournament began with five five-game Baker matches on Friday. Felician had a bye in Round 3, and went 3-1 with a 175.2 Baker game average for the day. The Golden Falcons' only loss came to the tournament host, the No. 19 nationally-ranked Red Flash, 895-842, in Round 2. Based on total pinfall, Felician sat in fourth place after Day 1.
Felician went 4-1 on Saturday in traditional play, including two victories against No. 21-ranked St. Francis College-Brooklyn. The Golden Falcons suffered a narrow loss to No. 20 Norfolk State University, 843-820, in Round 7. Despite its 7-2 record to that point, total pinfall saw Felician slip to seventh place.
Sunday called for three best-of-7 Baker playoff matches. With Alex Laurenzano (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) leading off and Aumack anchoring, the Golden Falcons swept St. Francis-Brooklyn before losing in six games to Duquesne University. Felician then knocked off Morgan State University, 4-0, firing 227 in Game 4, to retain its hold on seventh place.
St. Francis (Pa.) defeated Norfolk State, 4-2, in the title match to win the tournament. The Red Flash went 10-2 for the weekend. The Red Flash's Hannah Schorr had the highest traditional average among players starting at least four matches, a 211.3.
Felician improved its won-lost record to 25-19 for the 2016-17 season. The Golden Falcons are next in action on Feb. 10-12, when they travel to the Golden Bear Classic, hosted by Kutztown University in Reading, Pa.
