WILMINGTON, Delaware — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore fought through the challenge of a surprising pattern and a stronger Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference field to stand in second place heading into Sunday's (Nov. 11) Baker competition.

"The lanes played different than I expected, but we did the best with what we had," freshman Isabel Hughes (Raleigh, North Carolina) said.

The Hawks (19-11, 4-1 MEAC) finished the day 3-1 with their lone loss coming to Delaware State.

"Outside of a poorly executed match against FAMU, it was a terribly challenging day that the girls battled through," head coach Kayla Bandy said. "They made spares when we needed them as we got through transition. The pattern is not what was previously released per NCAA rules, so it was a bit of a mystery what we were bowling on.
Tomorrow we will have a better idea of how to attack the lanes."

Eastern Shore opened up with a 920-690 win against Bethune-Cookman and Morgan State 916-831, before the setback to the Hornets. Hughes rolled a 206 in the opener.

"Today the lanes had a lot more friction than what we saw yesterday, or days prior practicing at the facility," junior Cayla Hicks (Salem, Virginia) said. "The object was to hit the head pin and make your spare. I played close to the pocket all day, and made my spares."

Hicks had the team's high score of the day with a 219 against Delaware State and added a 210 in the finale against A&T. She averaged a 201.5 over four games.
Sophomore Paulina Torres (Ponce, Puerto Rico) started the day strong with a 201, 202, 202 and averaged a 185 on the day.

"Towards the end of the day it got really challenging, so it was very important for us to make shots," senior Danielle August (Mililani, Hawaii) said. "The difference maker was our spare game. It only failed us one match — the FAMU match — but we quickly hit the reset button."

Eastern Shore didn't bowl well despite picking up the 781-701 victory against Florida A&M.

"It was a very difficult day," senior Quianna Macares (Willemstad, Curacao) said. "But we made our adjustments to succeed at the end of the day."
The Hawks will face off with the remaining five members of the conference on Sunday in Baker competition.