MT. JOY, Pa. â The No. 20 Fairleigh Dickinson women's bowling team (14-2, 5-1 NEC) swept conference foe Wagner (4-10, 1-8 NEC) on Saturday, Feb. 20, as the first weekend of conference play continued. Knights head coach Mike LoPresti, the only head coach in program history, picked up his 1,500th NCAA career win following the Burgundy and Blue's 4.5-2.5 win (Baker match play) to close out the afternoon.
To begin the day, the Knights and Seahawks battled it out in a Baker total pinfall match with FDU beginning with a 45-pin advantage after the first game before pulling away with a final total of 966-756. In traditional scoring, three Knights crossed the 200 pin threshold with redshirt freshman Julianna Spina and seniors Amanda Chrzanowski and Jenna Henderson knocking down 211, 213 and 226 pins, respectively, in the team's 1,002-971 win in that match.
In the final bout of the afternoon the Knights took part in a Baker match play battle against Wagner with the Knights winning four and a half games to Wagner's two and half. FDU won the first two games 180-127 and 202-176 respectively. After ending the third game deadlocked at 177, FDU fell behind in the fourth and sixth before the Knights sealed the victory with a 210-167 seventh game.
LoPresti said, "Today's matchup was another example of how NEC matches are always a tough go, no matter who you're playing. [Today,] we were matched up with Wagner. It mattered very little that they're a first year program. That squad has a bunch of scrappy and highly competitive players and a veteran coach who knows how to make it happen. That group tested us in every frame of every game in every match.
He concluded, "That's why I'm so proud of my team. We overcame adversity and rose to the occasion time after time in all three matches. It was truly a tremendous performance and everyone contributed to the big day."
