February 21, 2011
PERRY HALL, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Lady Hawks had a solid outing over the weekend at the Morgan State Invitational. They rolled through the field, posting a 9-2 mark at the event and taking second in the tournament after a loss to Nebraska in the finals.
The Hawks (82-27) started hot, opening the tournament 5-0 in four-game-Baker matches, posting wins over Hampton (780-618), No. 9 Sacred Heart (884-787), Monmouth (750-664), Cheney (767-518) and No. 5 Vanderbilt (786-779).
Entering team games on day two, the Lady Hawks were in first place. That was short lived however, as Nebraska overtook them by the day's end. UMES opened with a 976-881 win vs. Long Island, but a bye in round two, where they bowled a 971, seemed to hurt their momentum. They dropped their third match to rival Delaware State 932-979. That marked their first loss to the Hornets this season in seven tries. The Hawks quickly rebounded to top North Carolina A&T 1023-828 and No. 4 Nebraska 1002-992. Even though they defeated the Huskers, UMES trailed them by 39 pins but had an identical 8-1 mark heading into the final day.
UMES opened the final day taking on third-seeded Vanderbilt. The rolled through the Commodores 4-1 in the best-of-seven Baker matches; topping them by 30 pins in the final game. Next up was a finals date with the Huskers who defeated Sacred Heart in their semi-final match-up.
Nebraska jumped on the Hawks, taking games one and two by a combined 79 pins. UMES came roaring back with victories in games three and four, 201-185 and 198-167. Game five was back and forth with Nebraska squeaking out a 239-232 win to give them a 3-2 lead. Game six saw the Huskers pour it on 278-192 to take the tournament title.
Individually the Hawks got stellar outings from Martha Perez (Bogota Colombia) and Kristina Frahm (Oswego, Ill.) who finished third and seventh respectively in the 120 plus field. Perez was named to the All-Tournament Team for her 208.2 average over five games. She tallied a pin fall of 1,041 and rolled a high game of a 231 in her bye round. She posted a 211 in the Nebraska win.
Frahm was also hot, averaging a 201.8 and pin fall of 1,009. Only the top seven bowlers even totaled over 1,000 on the tough lane conditions. She rolled a 220 against NCAT and a 218 vs. Nebraska.
Maria Rodriguez (Ibague Tolima, Colombia) was 13th, averaging a 195.6 and Anggie Ramirez (Bogota, Colombia) was 18th, posting a 189 average. Rodriguez posted a high game of 205 in the NCAT win while Ramirez rolled an identical score in the Long Island victory. Paula Vilas (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) averaged a 192.5 in just four games and had a 213 and 208 against NCAT and Nebraska respectively.
UMES will take a week off before hosting the final MEAC Northern Division meet on March 5 & 6 at Millsboro Lanes, in Millsboro, Delaware.
