PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — When University of Maryland Eastern Shore faced off with the rest of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference the first time around back in November, they fared OK with a final record of 7-2 against a stronger field, but both head coach Kayla Bandy and the team were disappointed with the results.

"After the first one we  were pretty disappointed in how we finished," Bandy said. "We averaged our lowest scoring event which we have had so far this season. This tournament we are looking to do what we have been doing since that point. That was a low point of our season when the girls realized they didn't want to continue bowling like that.

"Now, I think they are just aggressively pursuing the MEAC Championship to be honest. These girls are ready.

The squad averaged just 178.56 the first time around an overall poor showing for a squad with much higher expectations — and stand at No. 3 in the conference standings behind University of Alabama-Birmingham and North Carolina A&T State.

"We are bowling on (NCAA) pattern No. 4 again and we've been bowling on that same pattern for four years now," Bandy said. "At this point, we bowled on this pattern at so many different center on a multitude of different lane surfaces. We should be seeing the shape of the ball motion pretty well. Just a matter of them coming together as a team, making their spares and doing what they need to do."

Overall, though the path to improving is a simple one.

"I think we are just looking to build off what we  are doing, filling frames, controlling the pocket and being the best that we can be," Bandy said.

It's a familiar refrain from this season so far as the team's focus has been on that and converting spares, something that they struggled with at the James Brown invitational last week and in the first MEAC meet of the year.

"It is a nice lead in to USBC sectionals because we'll decide the top six seeds for the MEAC Tournament by average rather than win loss record because of the mishap at the MEAC No. 1 meet that wasn't caught prior to competition," Bandy said. "That will be nice to see what the team can do when it comes to pinfall over the next two days."

During the first go-round six matched were played on the opening day rather than the NCAA mandated five so the sixth match for each team was thrown out and the coaches decided to use average for tournament seeding.

The upcoming United States Bowling Congress Sectionals (March 9-10) will feature 32 Baker games each day for a total of 64 Baker games. Total pinfall for the 64 games will determine which teams advance to the ITC.

All matches will take place at the AMF All-Star Lanes in Greensboro, North Carolina.