FDU's Liat Vizenfeld FDU Advances To Saturday Competition at NCAA Women's Bowling Championships 4/10/2015 Updated Bracket Richmond Heights, MO -- Fairleigh Dickinson faces a long road tomorrow if the Knights want to earn their third national title. The Knights will need to win four games on Saturday after going 1-1 in their first two matches of the bracket portion of the championship. "The fact is that we are one of the few teams left to win the national championship is thrilling and exciting and we are looking forward to it", said Mike LoPresti afterwards. The day started with the last two qualifying round matches were the Knights lost to Arkansas State and then beat defending champion, Sam Houston State to finish with a 4-3 record and earn them the number four seed in the Championship Bracket. The Knights drew Vanderbilt in the four versus five game in the first round. The format for the bracket is a best four out of seven baker games. Fairleigh Dickinson started off quick with back-to-back strikes to open game one. Then after being down after the fifth the Knights picked up strikes in frames six, seven and eight to get back in. Liat Vizenfeld (Holon, Israel/Campus Kiryat Sharet) then went nine-spare and then strike in the 10th to get the Knights a 212-202 win and take a 1-0 lead in the best of seven series. In game number two, the Knights found themselves down early again. This time Fairleigh Dickinson used a run of six strikes and then a six to close out the game to take a 2-0 lead. Vanderbilt then won games three, four and five to comeback and take a 3-2 lead into game six and put the Knights in a must-win scenario. The Knights did just that in games six and seven. In game six, the Knights took the lead in frame four and never looked back en route to a 249-194 win. Game seven was much closer. Vanderbilt took the lead in the eighth thanks to a strike. Melanie Hannon (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Maryvale) then responded with a strike of her own in the ninth. The Knights then hung on in the 10th to advance with a 232-229 win. LoPresti continued, "It was a heavyweight fight with two teams of the caliber. Our players really played well in the match. They all were resilient and recovered and all stepped up big time down the stretch." In the second round the Knights faced the No. 1 seeded Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin, who had beaten No. 8 seed Wisconsin-Whitewater in the first round. Game one of the series was lead from the start by SFA. Fairleigh Dickinson did close the gap but the Lumberjacks did just enough to get the 188-182 win and take a 1-0 lead. The second game was just as close. The Knights opened a 10-pin lead through three frames and enjoyed a streak of four straight strikes, capped by Nicolette Sarin (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township High School)'s in the eighth. However, SFA closed the game with six straight strikes to edge FDU, 209-203 and take a 2-0 lead. The Knights got on the board after winning game three. All five FDU bowlers through strikes in their first time through the order and the Knights lead from there to earn the 211-188 win. Game number four ended with each team securing a half point. The Knights found themselves ahead by 20 pins after five frames but SFA erased the deficit heading into the 10th. Vizenfeld needed three strikes to secure a tie for the Knights and the Second Team All-American did just that and tied the match at 225 and make the score 2.5-1.5. Like games one and two; less than 10 pins decided game five. SFA started with three straight strikes and led by 17 through five frames. After SFA left the sixth frame open the Knights took the lead and then led by 18 in the eighth. The Lumberjacks had one last run in them and ended the game with four strikes to earn the 185-176 win and put the Knights into another must-win scenario. Fairleigh Dickinson responded again in the must-win scenario. The Knights got four straight strikes in frames two through five, capped by Vizenfeld's. FDU kept marking and were up by 22 after seven frames and Vizenfeld secured the 211-186 win with two strikes and a nine in the 10th. Unlike versus Vanderbilt earlier in the day the Knights were unable to go 2-2 in must-win games. SFA used another streak of four straight strikes to close out the game, 224-189, and advance on with a 4.5-2.5 match win. "It is going to be tough. It's the long road to the title. I wouldn't trade anyone on our roster for anyone to do this battle. We are prepared for this long road", finished LoPresti. The Knights now must play an elimination match versus Sam Houston State at 8:55 a.m. CT tomorrow morning and then beat No. 2 seed Nebraska twice in order to advance to the championship match.