LIMERICK, Pennsylvania — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore went 2-1 in Sunday's bracket round of the KU Invitational at the Limerick Bowl in Limerick, Pennsylvania and finished the event in third place.

The Hawks dropped a tough opening match against Fairleigh Dickinson by a 4-3 score to begin the morning.

"We started the day terrible and finished on a high," head coach Kayla Bandy said.  "To get the day started, we just could not find any rhythm — terrible execution of shots and "emotional" bowling. It felt like the past few bracket Sundays (before the break) until we started the second match. We discussed disconnecting emotionally from the process. We simply wanted to compete and leave it all out on the lanes, make shots, repeat, and keep it simple."

The Hawks (38-22, 8-2 MEAC) rebounded to sweep Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rival North Carolina A&T State, 4-0 in the next match. That was due in part to the developing friction, but also the play and chemistry of seniors Danielle August (Mililani, Hawaii) and Quianna Macares (Willemstad, Curacao) along with juniors Brigitte Jacobs (Freeport, Illinois) and Cayla Hicks (Salem, Virginia) and freshman newcomer Chloe Skurzynski (Carlisle, Pennsylvania).
  "We started the day off slow," August said.  "After a conversation amongst ourselves, we decided we needed to make a change and that was the time. That's what allowed us to rebound and win our next two matches. And the future seems promising with the addition of Chloe and our team's dynamic."

The Hawks final match of the day was a repeat against Fairleigh Dickinson and this time around they picked up a 4-1 victory on the heels of the momentum from the second match.

The squad averaged a 199.75 over the final day.
 

Jacobs (first-team) and Hicks (third-team) picked up all-tournament honors after the event.

"We found ourselves as friction developed with Danielle, Chloe, Quianna, Brigitte, and Cayla," Bandy said. "Man were they tough. Open frames came, but doubles followed, so it made scoring easier. We will get back to work this week to be ready for our Texas trip in two weeks."

The Hawks will be in action again Feb. 1-3 at the Prairie View A&M Invitational, at Bowl ITRC in Arlington Texas.