HOUSTON, Texas — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore will enter bracket play on Nov. 4 at the Track Kat Classic in second place behind No. 3 (National Tenpins Coaches Association) Nebraska.

The Hawks (15-7) opened the day with a 973-940 win against defending NCAA Champion McKendree, but then dropped the next two despite great scores. The Cornhuskers put up 1,129 pins against The Shore's 1,013, while Monmouth put up a 1,056 against a 1,005.

"I am impressed with this team's resiliency," head coach Kayla Bandy said. "They bowled consistent today, but faced several tough losses to teams that got hot yet they continued to rebound and focus on their goal of putting themselves in contention tomorrow. We left a lot of pins out there, but were quick to refocus our energy on moving forward and learning from our mistakes."

No. 7 Eastern Shore topped University of Alabama-Birmingham 940-823 before falling to host No. 3 Sam Houston State in a nail-biter, 973-965.

Junior Brigitte Jacobs (Freeport, Illinois) had a great day averaging 207.4 over five games and finished in sixth place individually.

"It was pretty tough but we worked as a team to reach our goal, to be in contention to win on Sunday," Jacobs said.

Senior Quianna Macares (Willemstad, Curacao) was the only other Hawk to play all five games. She averaged a 188.6 with a high game of 216 against McKendree — and finished in 28^th individually.

"It felt amazing to be able to perform for my team today," Macares said. "My job at the top of the lineup was to give my team energy and provide them with a good look of what the friction looked like to the right. This allowed them more confident shot making knowing where the friction was."

Freshman Isabel Hughes (Raleigh, North Carolina) kicked off the training wheels in a big way bowling the final four matches of the day. She put up scores of 220, 278, 170 and 203 (217.75).

"It feels good to be able to bowl well for the team," Hughes said. "The lane conditions were different from lane to lane, so it was challenging to keep up with moves."

Competition begins on Nov. 4 at 9:30 a.m. when the Hawks face off with Nebraska to open bracket play.

"We had to make spares today in order to keep ourselves in contention," Senior Danielle August (Mililani, Hawaii) said.

The Hawks will need to do the same again on Sunday.