ALTOONA, Pa. – The Felician University women's bowling team finished seventh out of 17 teams at the 2018 Red Flash Invitational, hosted by Saint Francis (Pa.) University from Friday through Sunday at Holiday Bowl. Felician was 7-6 in dual matches for the weekend, including 2-1 in Sunday's Baker playoff bracket.
Golden Falcon sophomore right-hander Nicole Aumack (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) placed ninth out of 114 individuals. The individual standings were based on Saturday's five traditional matches, and Aumack was one of two Felician competitors to start all five. She felled 987 pins for an average of 197.4, concluding the day with a 224 effort in Felician's 975-940 loss to Kutztown University
Senior Jessica Zalewski (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) also started all five matches on Saturday. She placed 25th after shooting 902 (180.4 average).
The tournament format called for five 5-game Baker matches on Friday, followed by Saturday's five traditional games. The teams were then arranged into a playoff bracket for Sunday's competition, which consisted of three best-of-seven Baker matches.
The Golden Falcons began the tournament on Friday with a pair of tight victories, 900-891 over Norfolk State University, and 842-840 to LIU Post. After losing to the host Red Flash, Felician shot 257 in Game 1 in a 985-756 triumph over Coppin State University. Both the single game and the five-game series were the second-best in program history under the Baker format. The line-up consisted of Kristin Natoli (Freehold, N.J/Howell), Kaitlyn Stapleton (Washington Township, N.J./Westwood Regional), Aumack, Heather Androvich (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) and Zalewski.
Felician finished Friday with a narrow 22-pin setback to Kutztown, but was in sixth place. After averaging 177.6 in Friday's Baker play, the Golden Falcons slipped to a 175.5 in traditional action on Saturday, and dropped two spots to eighth entering Sunday's playoff bracket.
The Golden Falcons started slowly on Sunday, losing, 4-0 to Medaille College and falling behind, 3-1, to Morgan State University. But the Golden Falcons staged a comeback to claim a seven-game victory over Morgan State, and handled a rematch with Medaille in four games to claim seventh place.
No. 23 nationally-ranked Lincoln Memorial University defeated No. 16 Saint Francis twice on Sunday to claim the tournament championship.
Felician, which was competing for the first time since Dec. 3, evened its won-lost record for the season at 26-26. The Golden Falcons are next in action on Feb. 9-11 at the Golden Bear Classic, hosted by Kutztown.
