HARAHAN, Louisiana — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore went 4-1 on Day 2 (Oct. 19) of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Bowling Invitational to move into sixth place at the event heading into the final day of competition.

The Hawks (7-2) finished the day with a hard-fought 985-982 win against NTCA No. 1 Vanderbilt.

"After evaluating the stats from the opening day, I saw some really good numbers that I thought we could focus on," head coach Kayla Bandy said. "We had a little powwow last night to discuss the things that really went well Friday despite what the scoreboard showed — solid single pin conversion rate and strike percentages by at least four bowlers."

Eastern Shore opened the morning with a 987-936 win against Valparaiso and followed that up by beating No. 13 Lincoln Memorial (979-945) and Southern (966-984). The day's one setback came 1005-947 against No. 17 Louisiana Tech before the day's finale win against the Commodores.

"We wanted to increase our 9-or-better percentage on the first ball to increase our chances for higher scores," Bandy said. "That meant we would have to communicate more about the quality of shots and our moves. We also had a different game plan on how to attack the transition."

The team increased the 9-or-better percentage from 63.2% on Friday to 74% on Saturday. The strike percentage went up four percentage points to 44 % and they posted a single-pin conversion rate of 91% on Day 2.

Sophomore Chloe Skurzynski (Carlisle, Pennsylvania) led the way for the Hawks in Traditional competition with a five-game average of 220 including a high of 268 against Vanderbilt. She finished second as an individual, while posting a 94% fill percentage.

Senior Brigitte Jacobs (Freeport, Illinois) posted a 204.60 average with a high of 224 and was sixth, while bowling leadoff and had a 90% fill percentage over five games.

Freshman Alejandra Amezcua (Baja California, Mexico) finished with 199.20 five-game average (12^th place) and a high of 235 in the day's opening match.

"Today Brigitte, Alejandra and Chloe gave us a solid 1-4-5 performance in the lineup that allowed us to try some things in the 2-3 holes," Bandy said. "Alejandra and Chloe worked really well together with adjustments to be made and Brigitte was just tremendous at the top of the lineup with consistent shot making and scores."

Senior Cayla Hicks (Salem, Virginia) had a three-game average of 188 despite some late-day struggles.

Play continued Sunday (Oct. 20) with bracket play beginning at 9:30 a.m. eastern.