HAMILTON, N.J. – Senior right-hander Nicole Aumack (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) put the finishing touches on the best individual regular season in the six-year history of the Felician University women's bowling program when she set two school records at the Hawk Flight Invite, hosted by Monmouth University from Friday though Sunday at Hamilton Lanes.
The tournament's format called for five 5-game Baker matches on Friday followed by five traditional team matches on Saturday. Sunday morning began with a sixth traditional team match before the 12 participating schools were paired into a bracket for two best-of-seven Baker playoff matches.
Bowling as Felician's "anchor," or the fifth bowler in the five-player lineup, Aumack produced the following scores during Saturday's traditional play: 219-235-207-195-246. She stayed hot on Sunday and finished that section of the event by firing 229. Her six-game total of 1331 (221.8 average) easily broke the school record for a six-game series. Kristen Keller had set the mark of 1188 at the 2014 Virginia Union University Invitational during the Golden Falcons' inaugural season.
The tournament concluded regular-season play for Felician. The Golden Falcons' only scheduled event remaining is the East Coast Conference (ECC) Championship tournament on Mar. 20-22, which contains no traditional play. Aumack's performance this weekend lifted her season traditional average to 198.2, which sets the Felician record by a wide margin. Jessica Zalewski averaged 186.9 in 2017-18.
Seven of the 12 teams entered in the Hawk Flight Invite were nationally-ranked. Combining that fact with what by all accounts was a forgiving lane condition produced a weekend of high scores. The field averaged more than 194 for the tournament, and champion No. 10 Duquesne University shot better than 225 per game. When Felician was matched up with Duquesne in the teams' second Baker match on Friday, the Dukes bowled 1331 (279-217-289-279-267). Two teams, Duquesne and No. 24 Wilmington (Del.) University, had the first 11 strikes in a Baker game, with the Wildcats doing so twice (295, 298).
For its part, Felician averaged 185.4 for all formats, including 189.7 in traditional play. Aumack's score was good enough for eighth place, missing the top five and an all-tournament slot by six pins. Seventy-four bowlers started at least one traditional match. Sophomore righty Natalie Swindell (Beachwood, N.J./Toms River South) averaged 195.7 and finished 26th based on total pinfall (1,174). Freshman righty Madelyn Weston (Hatboro, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) had her best outing of the season, felling 1,156 pins (192.7 average) to place 29th.
The Golden Falcons were 1-4 in Baker dual matches on Friday, defeating New Jersey City University, 955-779, in the middle match. Felician claimed three victories on Saturday, including twice surpassing 1,000 (200 average) against a ranked opponent. The Golden Falcons downed Wilmington, 1012-956, guided by 235s from both Aumack and Weston. Two matches later, they stopped the host and No. 22 Hawks, 1027-969, with a 238 from junior Jenn Ingulli (Oakhurst, N.J./Ocean Township) leading the way.
After dropping Sunday morning's traditional match to No. 25 Long Island University, Felician won both of its playoff matches, over New Jersey City and Mercyhurst University, to finish in ninth place.
Duquesne defeated No. 2 Sam Houston State University, 4-3 in the championship match, taking Game 7, 245-237 as both sides rolled the final six strikes. The Dukes went 13-0 on the weekend. Duquesne's Olivia Farwell was named tournament Most Valuable Player after rolling 1,455 for the six-game traditional block.
The ECC is the largest NCAA women's bowling conference in the country. Felician has finished ninth in the conference tournament in each of the last two years.
