NEWCASTLE, Delaware — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore went undefeated in bracket play on Sunday (Mar. 17) at the Northeast Invite season ending tournament at the Bowlerama in Newcastle Delaware.

The Hawks (71-43, 13-5 MEAC) opened the morning with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory against Fairleigh Dickinson — winning the last three games to pull out the first battle of the day.

They followed that up with a 4-0 sweep of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rival Norfolk State, before topping Fairleigh Dickinson again — this time 4-1 — to win the event.

"I'm really proud of the girls' work ethic this weekend," Hawks coach Kayla Bandy said. "They rallied back after a rough start Saturday, taking two losses back to back to FDU, to come back with vengeance to win the tournament."

Junior Brigitte Jacobs (Freeport, Illinois) led the way in bracket play with a 65.6 percent strike percentage and a 93.8 percent fill rate, while classmate Cayla Hicks (Salem, Virginia) was right there with a 68.8 percent strike rate and filled at a 90.6 percent rate.

Senior Alexandra Hernandez built on her strong start Saturday, with a 56.3 percent strike rate and a 90.6 percent fill rate on the final day of the event.

"Brigitte, Cayla, and Alexandra were absolutely wonderful this weekend while the others all did their part to contribute to the win," Bandy said. "Today, it was all about creating doubles in the lineup and the girls found their rhythm."

Freshman Chloe Skurzynski (Carlisle, Pennsylvania) chipped in a 50 percent strike rate and an 87.5 percent fill rate.

In the process of bowling her spots in the team Baker matched against the Knights to open the day, Jacobs put together a what would have been a 300 game in traditional competition, while Hicks threw eights strikes in a row against the Spartans in the second match.

Hernandez had a strong day in Traditional play on Saturday placing her in second place and on the All-Tournament Team.

"It was especially cool to see Alexandra make All-tournament Team at her last regular season event with her Hawk family as she is a senior," Banday said. "She didn't have the best start to the season, but kept working hard throughout the season to get to a place where she could help her team. She did just that this weekend.

"Now, to get back to work this week to prepare for MEAC Championships."

The MEAC Championships will feature Mega-match play within the bracket format and will begin on Friday at 2 p.m. at AMF Chesapeake Lanes in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Winners will be determined by using a best-of-three match format in the following order: five-person Traditional team match; Baker total pinfall; and a best-of-seven Baker match play.

The match will be played on the same pair of lanes with normal rules applying.

Each individual format must be played until a winner is determined using the modified Baker roll-off to break ties.

There will be a three-minute break between each format with no practice. Teams will not participate in more than two mega matches in one day.