LODI, N.J. – The Felician University women's bowling team strung together eight consecutive strikes during its final game to clinch a dual-match victory during the Baker-play portion of the New York Metro Invitational held on Sunday afternoon at Lodi Lanes. The event was hosted by Felician.
Sunday's play consisted of four matches, each made up of five Baker games. Match 4 pitted the Golden Falcons against Molloy College, and the Lions jumped out to a 78-pin lead after two games. At the end of the fourth game however, Felician trailed by only four. After a slow start, the eight-bagger allowed the hosts to shoot 228 to Molloy's 187, giving Felician the 945-908 triumph.
For the second consecutive day, junior Natalie Swindell (Beachwood, N.J./Toms River South) qualified for the All-Tournament Team. Swindell, who struck in the fifth frame and doubled in the 10th of Game 5 versus Molloy, posted a frame average for the day of 20.13, good for fourth place among the participants. They are the first two All-Tournament nods of Swindell's Felician career.
At times, the Golden Falcons started four freshmen. Two of the newcomers, Mia Aish (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) and Daisha Howard (Westbury, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial), participated in all 40 frames. Aish bowled to a frame average of 17.93, while Howard knocked over 17.45 pins per frame.
Felician finished sixth in the team standings with a total of 3,428 pins, or an average of 171.4 per Baker game. For the weekend, the Golden Falcons were 2-6 in dual matches, capturing their first on Saturday and their final one on Sunday.
Chestnut Hill College ran away with the team championship. Its 3,908 pins (195.4 average) were 178 better than runner-up Caldwell University. The Griffins won all four of their matches and posted an 8-0 record on the weekend. CHC senior Christina Del Vecchio and Molloy sophomore Amanda Kreush shared tournament Most Valuable Player honors, each with a 21.15 frame average.
All six teams attending the event were making their 2020-21 season debuts.
In a Baker game, a team submits a five-player lineup. The leadoff player bowls frames 1 and 6, No. 2 bowls frames 2 and 7, and that process continues until the five players have bowled two frames each to complete a game.
Felician (2-6) is next scheduled to participate in the final two days of the Northeast Invitational, co-hosted by Chestnut Hill and Mount St. Mary's (Md.) University, on Feb. 6 and 7 in Stratford, N.J.
