April 22, 2016 WICHITA, Kansas-After a fairly solid opening day of qualifying for the 2016 Intercollegiate Team Championships, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore drew an old rival in the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Hawks were seeded sixth and the Warhawks were 11th but the rankings didn't hold true as UWW upended Maryland Eastern Shore 4-2 to send the Hawks to the consolation bracket in the double elimination format.
The Hawks will take on Wright State in round two on Friday at 8:00 a.m. (CT) to start the second day of play. Wright State, the 14th-seed almost upset the third-seed Wichita State Shockers in round one, but fell 4-3.
Eastern Shore fell just short in game one against UWW. Kaci Collins (Mint Hill, N.C.) started off the Hawks with a strike, but it was short-lived as opens began to plague the young team and UWW jumped out to a game one win 191-183.
Game two was more of the same as the Warhawks extended their lead, two games to none with a 215-152 win as things got worse for Eastern Shore.
The opens and misses then turned the tide for the two teams as head coach Kayla Bandy changed her lineup. Melanie Copey (Ontario, N.Y.) moved up to second in the lineup as Danielle August (Mililani, Hawaii) would follow her in third. The move worked as the pair both struck in frames two and three and then after three opens in the fourth-sixth frames, the pair struck again. Jacqueline Rhoda (Portage, Ind.) added a mark of her to make it three in a row. Anchor Thashaina Seraus (Oranjestad, Aruba) struggled today and it showed as she opened in the tenth frame. But by then in didn't matter and Eastern Shore took the game three win 173-147, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Game four saw Coach Bandy switch again as Rhoda went to second and Copey back to fourth. Eastern Shore was solid, leaving just one open frame but Wisconsin-Whitewater strung more strikes together and took a tough win over the Hawks, 236-218, giving them a 3-1 match lead.
Game five put the Hawks in a must-win situation. Done. The Shore jumped out to an early lead and held on to post a 203-176 win, making the match 3-2.
The sixth game was the most frustrating of the day for Coach Bandy. UWW jumped out to a lead but split in the fifth frame and left it opened and giving the Hawks a chance. Seraus left a 10 pin in her spare shot and Eastern Shore couldn't capitalize. One frame later the Warhawks left the frame open again and Collins again left a single-pin spare. With Eastern Shore unable to walk through the door the Warhawks left open, they would fall 183-168 and lose the match 4-2.
If the Hawks can advance past Wright State they will face second-seed Emmanuel who lost in match two today to North Carolina A&T. That is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Should the Hawks defeat Emmanuel they will face either UWW again or possibly Pikeville, Bandy's alma mater. That match is scheduled for approximately 1:30 p.m. (CT)
