MILLSBORO, Delaware — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore women's bowling team entered bracket play at the Hawk Classic in fourth place after a major comeback on the second day of competition at Millsboro Lanes in Millsboro, Delaware.
Eastern Shore (28-19, 8-2 MEAC) battled all morning and afternoon on Sunday (Nov. 18), but still came away 0-3 on the day and in 6th place. The bright spot on the day was the inclusion of sophomore
Paula Torres (Ponce, Puerto Rico) and junior
Brigitte Jacobs (Freeport, Illinois) on the All-Tournament team.
Torres averaged a 221.20 and Jacobs finished with a 219.00.
Joining them on the All-Tournament team was Sacred Heart's Julia Favata (224.0), Fairleigh Dickinson's Amy Caruso (220.4) and Vanderbilt's Kristin Quah (215.2).
The Commodores won the event and Quah was also named MVP.
The Hawks began the day with Fairleigh Dickinson and quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead. FDU answered, but the Hawks again took the lead 2-1 before dropping three straight games and the match, 4-2.
Next up was Tulane and The Shore took a 2-0 lead on the Green Wave. But Tulane took the next four as Eastern Shore hit a rough spot averaging just 171.8 over those four to fall 4-2.
The last match of the day brought Sam Houston State and the Hawks rebounded to take a 3-2 lead on the Bearkats, but eventually fell 4-3 in that one.
It was the final Hawk Classic for seniors
Quianna Macares (Willemstad, Curacao),
Alexandra Hernandez (Maracaibo, Venezuela) and
Danielle August (Mililani, Hawaii).
"It was great watching then bowl in their final home event," head coach
Kayla Bandy said. "They have worked very hard and have grown and made contributions to the program and all contributed to what we accomplished this weekend. It has been a pleasure seeing them grow and progress over their careers and they all three have specific plans for their future on and off the lanes and are poised for great success."
The Hawks are off until Jan. 18-20 when they will travel to the KU Invitational at the Limerick Bowl in Limerick Pennsylvania.
"I think the girls are excited to have a week off this week, because we have been going so many weekends in a row," Bandy said. "I think this past weekend was really cool because, while we finished in sixth and that's not fun for anybody, we did some good things on Day 2. We had a terrible day on Friday and we went back to the house and we had one of the best discussions about where we wanted to be and what we wanted to do differently. Going into Saturday competition, we talked about taking action on these things we talk about in our meetings, so to see the girls take action on Saturday was really fun to watch and then for them to have one of the most successful days we've had all season was great.
"Going into Sundays, we need to be ready to get everyone's best," Bandy said. "It has happened two tournaments in the row where we bowl well, but we have to be better than the other team. Our opponent has stepped up their game because teams are recognizing we are a better team and they are stepping up and throwing some pretty big sets at us. The girls know now that everybody is going to bowl their best against us and we need to get better over this break."
