SMYRNA, Tennessee — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore was close to a very different day on the lanes on Sunday (March 19), the final day of the Music City Classic. Opening with a bracket play showdown against National Tenpin Coaches Association No. 8 Maryville University, the Hawks quickly found themselves knotted at 3.5-3.5 having split Game 5 in the Best-of-Seven series.
The Roll Off came out in favor of the Saints 97-71 and started the day off on the wrong foot.
"We would be feeling a lot differently about how the day went if we managed to pull that one out," Hawks coach Roger Petrin said.
UMES (74-42, 10-6 MEAC) stopped No. 19 Lincoln Memorial 4-1 in the second match and then in a rematch with Maryville came out on the wrong side of a 4-2 loss, but sometime in the middle of the second match the Hawks found their game.
In the long run the biggest thing that came out of the day for the UMES was the leadership of senior Alejandra Amezcua (Baja, California, Mexico) who spoke up after the Hawks went down 1-0 to Lincoln Memorial in the second match.
"She had enough with what we were doing, got very passionate with the team and I felt like that flipped a switch with the team," Petrin said. "From that point on, we bowled pretty well the rest of the day.
"It's one of those moments where all weekend we were waiting for someone to step up with some leadership and finally it happened."
The Hawks would finish the event in 10th Place out of 30 teams.
Up next for UMES is the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championship in Virginia Beach, Virginia, March 24-26.
