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Richmond Heights, MO -- The Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team finished the first day of with a 3-2 record after five of the seven qualifying round matches. The final two matches will be played on Friday morning.

The Knights sit in third place with their 3-2 record. Fairleigh Dickinson trails both Stephen F. Austin and Nebraska, who both have 4-1 records.

"I thought we played well. There were times when we played really good and times we did not. But for the first day of tournament its a real different type of format that we use all year long where play every other team to set up the seeding. So there is some experienmenting going on", said head coach Mike LoPresti afterwards.   

The Knights opened the day with a win over No. 4 Vanderbilt, 1,020-990. Morgan Brown (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford) paced the Knights with a team leading 213-pin fall total. Melanie Hannon (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Maryvale) was right behind with a 212.

Game two saw the No. 2 Knights take on the No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Cornhuskers came away with the 1,147-1,039 win. Freshman, Karsyn Lukosius (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) had her best game of the day, totaling a 234. However, Nebraska got games of at least 223 from all five bowlers, including a 241 from Liz Kuhlkin.

Fairleigh Dickinson then took on the No. 8 Warhawks of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Knights got back on the winning track with a 1,020-913 win to move them to 2-1 after three qualifying matches. Nicollete Sarin led the way for the Knights. The recently named Second Team All-American paced the knights with a 228, which was the best of the day for any Fairleigh Dickinson bowler.

Central Missouri was the opponent for the Knights in game four. The Knights were able to get the lead early on and maintain it and earned a 981-935 win to move them to 3-1 on the day. Liat Vizenfeld (Holon, Israel/Campus Kiryat Sharet) led the Knights were her best game of the day, 225. Sarin and Hannon each recorded a 195.

The final match of the day for the Knights came against No. 7 Stephen F. Austin. The Lumberjacks were coming off a win over Nebraska in thier previous. The match was close throughout and came down to the final couple of frames. The teams were tied at 822 to start the 10th frame and the Lumberjacks were able to squeak out a five-pin win, 985-980.

Individually for the Knights, both Vizenfeld and Sarin are in the Top 10 of total pin fall average after the first day of competition. Vizenfeld is sixth with a 211.8 avg. and Sarin is ninth with a 210.6 avg.

LoPresti added, "The main focus [tomorrow] is to be mentally tougher. We have some expectations now, we know where we need to play on the lanes. For the most part our intensity was there today and our competiive nature was at its best and if we can turn it up a notch I think we can be a difficult team tomorrow." 

The Knights resume the qualifying round tomorrow morning at approximately 10:50 CT when the Knights face Arkansas State and then Sam Houston State, the defending national champions.

Game Schedule
Game 1: Fairleigh Dickinson 1,020 – Vanderbilt 990
Game 2: Nebraska 1,147 – Fairleigh Dickinson 1,039
Game 3: Fairleigh Dickinson 1,020 – UW-Whitewater 913
Game 4: Fairleigh Dickinson 981 - Central Missouri 935
Game 5: Stephen F. Austin 995 – Fairleigh Dickinson 980
Game 6: Fairleigh Dickinson vs. Arkansas State (Lanes 9,10)
Game 7: Sam Houston State vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (Lanes 5,6)