GREENSBORO, North Carolina – The University of Maryland Eastern Shore bowling team has claimed the runners-up title at the MEAC Bowling Tournament after climbing the ranks from the fifth seed and earning three straight wins through the second and third days of competition to put the Hawks in contention to play for a title.

Beginning as the No. 5 seed, the Hawks quickly earned their first win, 2-0, against No. 4 Morgan State. UMES earned a 960-896 win in the traditional round before completing the first round win with a 960-826 victory in the Baker round to take the first match.

The Hawks lost their second match of Day 1 against the regular season champion No. 1 North Carolina A&T, 2-0, with a narrow margin in the traditional round, 993-983, and another narrow loss in the Baker, 1,047-1,029.

Coming out of the bottom half of the bracket with zero margin for error, the Hawks swept through Day 2 competition undefeated. The Hawks opened with a 2-0 win against No. 3 Delaware State with a 1,019-791 traditional matchup win and a 991-836 win in the following Baker matchup against the Hornets. Alliyah Friend led the Hawks with a 222 in traditional play.

The Hawks' subsequent quarterfinal match pushed the Hawks to an extra Baker, best of seven, matchup against Morgan State after UMES dropped the traditional round, 845-834, before winning the following Baker round, 997-929. In the deciding third round of the quarterfinal, the Hawks earned a 4-2 win in the best-of-seven Baker play to advance to the championship rounds on Sunday.

The third day of competition again went to the Hawks as they defeated No. 2 University of Alabama Birmingham 2-0. The Hawks earned a 941-914 win in the traditional round before capping their semifinal victory with a 902-879 finish in the following Baker. Jayda Gordon led UMES with a 218, while Gabriela Becerra Diaz (215) and Mariane Almeida (209) each added 200-plus performances in the morning match.

After winning three straight to come out of the bottom half of the tournament bracket, the Hawks closed Sunday against North Carolina A&T for the second time on the weekend. In the best of seven Baker format, the Hawks lost 4-0 with scoring margins as close as four, nine and 10 pins in three of the four games with the final results as 195-191, 178-169, 211-180 and 233-223.

Through three days of competition, both of the Hawks' seniors, Mariana Santos Rivero and Jayda Gordon, were named to the All-Tournament team.

The full tournament honors were as follows:

Most Outstanding Bowler: Savannah Burgin, North Carolina A&T State University   

Most Outstanding Coach: Kim Terrell-Kearney, North Carolina A&T State University 

2026 MEAC Bowling Championship – All-Tournament Team

• Savannah Burgin, North Carolina A&T State University

• Mariana Santos Rivero, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

• Madison Colston, University of Alabama-Birmingham  

• Johnna Hill, Morgan State University

• Jayda Gordon, University of Maryland Eastern Shore