TOWSON, Md. – The Felician University women's bowling team won a pair of playoff matches on Sunday and finished in sixth place out of 15 teams at the James Brown Invitational, hosted by Morgan State University on Friday through Sunday at AMF Towson Lanes.
For the weekend, Felician turned in an 8-5 record in dual matches. The Golden Falcons thus evened their won-lost record for the 2017-18 season at 39-39.
The tournament followed what has become a relatively standard format. Teams participated in five 5-game Baker matches on Friday, and then returned for five traditional team matches on Saturday. Participants were then grouped in order of total pinfall and arranged into a playoff bracket for Sunday's three best-of-7 Baker matches.
On Saturday, sophomore Nicole Aumack (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) and senior Jessica Zalewski (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) were the only Golden Falcons to start all five traditional matches. Aumack shot 789 for her first four games before setting for a 158 in Match 5. Her 947 series (189.4 average) was still good for 13th place out of 93 competitors who started at least one match.
Zalewski completed her day with a 211 to post a 915 series (183.0 average) and finish 22nd.
Felician got out to a hot start to the event. In Friday's first match, the Golden Falcons shot 940 (188.0 average) in Baker play, but lost to the 955 of No. 21 nationally-ranked Norfolk State University. Felician bounced back to defeat No. 23-ranked Fayetteville State University, 974-875, and went on to a 4-1 day. The Golden Falcons were in fifth place after Friday's competition, with Aumack sporting a 21.68 frame average.
Felician, however, slipped to 2-3 in Saturday's traditional play. Aumack shot the team's highest game of the day, a 214 in a loss to Chestnut Hill College, while Heather Androvich (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) carved out a 213 two matches later in a tight 13-pin setback to Howard University. Felician salvaged the day with a position-round 888-864 triumph over the host Bears to move into seventh place.
Sunday began with a re-match with Howard, which the Golden Falcons captured in six games. Next came a see-saw battle with Chestnut Hill that was extended to the seventh game, which Felician won, 203-155, to take the match. A victory over Caldwell University would have landed the Golden Falcons in fourth place, but the Cougars earned a 4-1 win to conclude the event.
Androvich and fellow senior Kristin Natoli (Freehold, N.J./Howell) each started four traditional matches. Androvich totaled 758 and finished 47th, while Natoli's 682 was good for 51st place.
No. 10 Fairleigh Dickinson University topped Monmouth University, four games to two, in the championship match to earn the tournament title. Both FDU and fifth-place Caldwell went 11-2 on the weekend.
The Golden Falcons next compete in the Hawk Flight Invite, hosted by Monmouth in Egg Harbor Township, on March 2-4.
