SMYRNA, TENNESSEE---The 11th-ranked St. Francis College women’s bowling team prepared for next weekend’s Northeast Conference Championships by capturing three best-of-seven Baker format matches on Sunday in the final day of the Columbia 300 Music City Classic, hosted by Vanderbilt University at Smyrna Lanes in Smyrna, Tennessee. Entering play on Sunday in 15th place, the three wins lifted St. Francis to a 13th-place finish in the final standings.
The Terriers opened Sunday play against potential NEC Championships second-round opponent, the Kutztown University Golden Bears. In game one, junior Julia Petosa, senior Alexandra Stein, and freshmen Marissa Gargiulo and Kaitlin Caspar strung four strikes from frames four through seven, and the Terriers came away with a 199-196 victory. Game two saw the Terriers lead throughout and pull away in the final two frames with a Petosa strike in the ninth and a Stein double in the tenth. Game three was close early, before Caspar, freshman Alyson Piergiovanni, Petosa, and Stein strung four strikes in the final four frames, to blow the game open for a 187-122 win. Game four was an off game for the Terriers, as they lost 147-113. St. Francis bounced right back in game five as Caspar, Petosa, and Stein combined for a triple in the third through fifth frames, and the lead stood throughout in a 176-168 match-clinching win.
The Lady Rattlers of Florida A&M University were next, and the Terriers swept the match in four straight games, though they were all contested affairs. In game one, Stein was clutch with a 1-3-8 spare conversion in the tenth frame and a strike on the fill ball, lifting the Terriers to a 184-180 victory. In game two, the Terriers were nearly clean, missing only one mark (a split) to score a 182-160 win. In game three, once again the only open frame was a split, and freshman Marissa Gargiulo came up in the sixth and kept the team’s momentum alive with a tricky 6-7-10 conversion, as St. Francis scored a 176-148 verdict. Stein provided the finishing touches on the clincher with a spare and strike in the final frame, giving the Terriers a 163-159 decision.
The final match of the day saw St. Francis face Adelphi University in a typical Terrier/Panther thriller. Sophomore Jennifer Vreeland, Caspar, and Petosa strung strikes in frames seven through nine and the Terriers rolled a 205-165 victory. The Panthers came back in game two with a 167-145 decision which was to be the second and final game loss of the day. In game three, Vreeland’s 1-2-4-10 conversion in the seventh preserved a clean game for the Terriers, who rebounded from the loss with a 197-153 win. Vreeland, Caspar, and Petosa provided late heroics in game four with strikes in frames 7-9 as St. Francis prevailed in game four, 193-165 to move within one game of closing out the match. Game five went right to the final ball, as the Terriers’ Alexandra Stein and the Panthers’ Danielle Merino collected spares in the tenth to knot the game. Merino rolled her fill ball first and knocked down eight pins before Stein stepped up and knocked down nine, making the final score 190-189 in favor of St. Francis.
Next weekend, the Terriers will compete in the Northeast Conference Championships at Parkway Lanes in Elmwood Park, New Jersey. Play begins on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. with four first-round matches, including the third-seeded Terriers facing the sixth-seeded Pioneers of Sacred Heart University. St. Francis’ second match will come against either second-seeded Kutztown or seventh-seeded Saint Peter’s College. Four of the eight teams will be eliminated on Saturday, and four will advance to Sunday’s semifinal and championship matches.