EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – The Felician University women's bowling team fought through difficult scoring conditions to post a winning record and finish in the top half of the field at the Molloy College Baker Invitational on Saturday at AMF East Meadow Lanes.
Molloy is staging their weekend tournament as separate one-day events, with each tournament consisting of five 5-game Baker matches. Felician went 3-2 in Saturday's dual matches to run its won-lost record to 30-45 on the season.
The final team standings were determined by total pinfall. The Golden Falcons placed fourth out of eight schools in attendance with 4,209 pins, a 168.4 per-game average. Felician bettered fifth-place Kutztown University by three pins and was 69 behind Medaille College in third.
Junior right-hander Kristine Verbeke (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley) topped the Golden Falcons with a Baker frame average of 18.32. Classmate Nicole Aumack (Brick, N.J./Brick Township), who spent the day as Felician's "anchor" (fifth and 10th frames), turned in a 17.95 figure.
Scoring was at a premium on Saturday. The tournament champion, LIU Post, averaged just 179.0 per Baker game for the day. The eight-team field averaged 164.2
While Felician started slowly with a 796 (159.2 average) effort in Match 1, it was enough to top the 757 of New Jersey City University. Losses to fellow East Coast Conference members Caldwell University and Kutztown followed. Felician fired its high game of 233 against the Cougars, but also signed for games of 136 and 153 during that match.
The Golden Falcons turned in a winning performance by ending Saturday with victories over LIU Post, 887-818, and Medaille, 898-840.
Freshman Natalie Swindell (Beachwood, N.J./Toms River South) averaged 16.23 per frame for Felician. Sophomore Jenn Ingulli (Oakhurst, N.J./Ocean Township) turned in a 15.85 figure, and freshman Kaitlyn Lowey (Fords, N.J./Union Catholic) a 14.35.
No team was undefeated during the event. Caldwell and Kutztown each finished 4-1.
The eight teams will be back in action for another five 5-game Baker matches on Sunday at East Meadow Lanes.
