NJCU SCORESHEET
FINAL PLAYOFF BRACKET
HOWELL, NJ (www.NJCUGothicKnights.com)...The New Jersey City University women's bowling team demonstrated yet again on March 7 that it handles adversity remarkably well. After a rare winless day on March 6, the #9 ranked Gothic Knights rallied by posting four victories over nationally ranked opponents and won a pair of playoff series as NJCU placed fifth overall of 11 teams at the sixth annual Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Women's Bowling Championship at Howell Lanes.
NJCU, currently ranked No. 9 nationally among Division I, II and III institutions, went 4-1 overall in NCAA matches to increase its overall record to 64-31 (.674) and 29-9 since January 29. The Knights are also 38-25 against ranked opponents this year
NJCU, which went 0-4 on the opening day of the tournament, entered competition in ninth place among 11 schools. In the first three matches of the final day the Knights bowled quad-Baker matches. The Knights outlasted #19 Norfolk State University, 710-701. NJCU dropped a 741-668 decision to #7 Adelphi University, 741-668 before concluding the regulation portion of the tournament with a 696-661 victory against #10 St. Francis College.
The Knights would meet both Adelphi and St. Francis again in the fifth-place bracket of the tournament, squaring off against its Northeast Conference rivals in best 4-out-of-7 Baker matches.
In an instant rematch with SFC, NJCU won again, beating the Terriers, 4-games-to-2 (189-167, 139-160, 189-161, 182-211, 187-147, 219-202). With the back-to-back wins, the Knights improved to 5-1 this season against St. Francis.
In the fifth-place contest, the Knights rallied from a 3-1 series deficit and outlasted the Panthers, 4-games-to-3 (171-179, 224-161, 184-198, 148-211, 214-171, 208-145, 183-180). NJCU and Adelphi have now squared off 10 times this season with each club winning five matches.
NJCU 10th-year head coach FRANK PARISI, the chair of the NCAA National Collegiate Bowling Committee, noted how his club bounced back.
“We salvaged the weekend by not letting yesterday's results affect us. We came back doing what we've been doing over the last three tournaments—making good shots and converting our spares. That was the difference in winning the matches today, especially the last two.”
NJCU had hosted the previous five ECAC championship events but was not hosting this year because the Gothic Knights will host the 2010 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship on April 8-10 in North Brunswick, NJ.
In the win over Norfolk—the Knights fourth straight victory in the series in five meetings this year, NJCU had a 169-168 lead after the opening day and outbowled the Spartans 182-149 in game two. NSU edged the Knights 172-165 in game three but NJCU entered the final set with a 27-pin lead. The Spartans led off the final game with three strikes while NJCU had a strike and two open frames as that initial lead evaporated. But Kelly Daunno, D'Angelo, Drejerwski and Marmo uncorked four straight strikes in the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th frames to notch the nine-pin victory after NSU took the fourth game, 212-194.
Adelphi, in the second match, led 520-501 after the third game. The Panthers bowled a 190-179-151 set while NJCU had tallied 173-160-168. But in the fourth game, Adelphi secured the win with a 221-167 advantage, to claim the match, 741-668—a 73-pin decision.
In the final qualifying match, NJCU met St. Francis in a contest where the scores displayed the difficulty of the modified NCAA pattern five utilized as the lane condition for the tournament. NJCU rolled games of 170-158-175-193 to down the Terriers (122-168-192-179) by a 696-661 final.
With the top four schools advancing to the championship bracket, the fifth through eighth place finishers competed in the fifth place field and St. Francis dropped from fourth to fifth in the final match, finishing with 6,431 pins. Meanwhile, NJCU placed eighth overall with 6,228 pins, forcing a rematch in the semifinals of the bracket.
In the first five games of the series, the school bowling on lane nine of the facility won every time. NJCU won game one, 189-167, as Kelly Daunno, D'Angelo and Drejerwski rolled strikes in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames to secure the win. SFC took game two, 160-139. NJCU reclaimed a 2-1 series lead with a 189-161 decision, before the Terriers tied it at 2-2, winning 211-182. NJCU posted a lopsided, 187-147 win in game five for a 3-2 series advantage. Had NJCU lost the sixth game on Lane 10, the Terriers, based on their higher seed, likely would have elected to stay on ninth lane. Again, facing adversity, NJCU unleashed three strikes to open the sixth game and concluded with four more as Drejerwski tossed one in the ninth and Marmo notched three in a row in the 10th frame to close the match as the Knights prevailed, 219-202, and won the series in six games.
NJCU advanced to the fifth-place match against seventh-seeded Adelphi, which knocked off sixth-seeded and #20 ranked Morgan State University, 4-games-to-3.
Adelphi edged NJCU in game one, 179-171 before NJCU tied the series, opening the second game with five strikes before winning 224-161. The Panthers claimed game three, 198-184 and after NJCU left five open frames in the fourth game, took a 3-to-1 series lead with a 211-148. But yet again, NJCU responded to a challenge. The Knights forced a seventh game by posting back-to-back victories, claiming game five, 214-171, and game six, 208-145.
In the seventh game, NJCU had a split in the first frame before following with three one-pin spares, a strike, and two more one-pin spares. D'Angelo and Drejerwski struck in the eighth and ninth frames and Marmo sealed a 183-180 win with a nine-count on her first ball in the 10th frame.
Top-ranked Vanderbilt University, which finished first in the team standings (6,877), eventually won the tournament, 4-games-to-1 over third-place and #3 Delaware State University. Vandy ousted fourth-seeded Kutztown University, 4-0 and DSU overcame second-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson University, which was four pins behind Vanderbilt in the team standings, by a 4-2 series result.
On Thursday, March 11, the Knights head to Nashville, Tennessee before competing in the Music City Classic, hosted by Vanderbilt from March 12-14. That will be the final tournament prior to the NEC Championship from March 19-21 when #1 seeded NJCU, the 2009-10 regular season conference champions, opens play against eighth-seeded Long Island University in the double-elimination event.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
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2010 ECAC CHAMPIONSHIP (Day 2 of 2) (Standings prior to playoffs)
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REGULATION
PLACING
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SCHOOL
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NATIONAL RANK
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TOTAL PINFALL
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PLAYOFF FINISH
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1
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Vanderbilt University
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#1
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6877
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1st
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2
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Fairleigh Dickinson University
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#4
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6873
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3rd
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3
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Delaware State University
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#3
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6594
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2nd
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4
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Kutztown University
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#12
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6451
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4th
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5
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St. Francis College
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#10
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6431
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7th
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6
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Morgan State University
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#20
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6298
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8th
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7
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Adelphi University
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#7
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6258
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6th
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8
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NEW JERSEY CITY UNIVERSITY
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#9
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6228
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5th
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9
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Saint Peter's College
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--
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6157
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9th
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10
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Norfolk State University
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#19
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6081
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10th
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11
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Long Island University
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---
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5319
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11th
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12
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Coppin State University
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--
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--
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12th
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