ARLINGTON, Texas — No. 8 (National Tenpins Coaches Association) University of Maryland Eastern Shore went 1-1 in bracket play on Sunday at the Prairie View Invitational at IRTC Bowl in Arlington, Texas and finished the event in seventh place.
Junior Cayla Hicks (Salem, Virginia) finished second overall with a 217.17 average over six games and made the all-tournament team.
"Seventh place is obviously disappointing but we opened the event with a terrible day as we faced the top four teams in the country consecutively with conference foe NCA&T in the mix," Hawks coach Kayla Bandy said. "We didn't show up to compete day one, but worked relentlessly over the last two days of the event. I am proud of the girls for being accountable for our shortcomings the first day and bouncing back the next two days, finishing fifth in total pin-fall for the traditional format day two among the top ten schools in the country."
The Hawks (43-29, 8-2 MEAC) lost a tightly contest battle to NTCA No. 5 Sam Houston State 4-3, but then topped NTCA No. 2 Nebraska by a 4-0 score to end the day.
The Shore opened the day with a 1,039-781 win against Texas Southern in the final qualifying match of the event and entered bracket play in eighth place.
"It was a team effort to develop a plan to attack the lanes after the first day," Bandy said. "We learned from what did not work day one and it showed in our performance throughout the duration of the next two days. This week we will work on quality shot making by focusing on those things causing the errant shots that have to be reduced. We are getting better for March and it is arriving quickly!"
Freshman Chloe Skurzynski (Carlisle, Pennsylvania) finished in 14th place as an individual with a six-game average of 197.50. Junior Danielle August (Mililani, Hawaii) was 45th with a five-game average of 180.20. Brigitte Jacobs (Freeport, Illinois) was 47th with a five-game average of 178.80.
"I can't say enough about the performance by Cayla Hicks finishing second in the event competing against the top student athletes in college bowling," Bandy said. "Chloe Skurzynski struggled day one and completely turned it around to help the team out the following two days."
Eastern Shore will return to the lanes Feb. 15-17 at the James Brown Invitational in Towson, Maryland.
