FDU Wins Womens Bowling Title

When you think of college sports, bowling might not come to mind. However, Men's' and Women's' Bowling are both sanctioned sports of the NCAA.
Last week, Fairleigh Dickinson University, a school of 6,000 students located in Teaneck, NJ, won a National Championship in Women's' Bowling by defeating Nebraska in a best of seven game series. The match was televised by ESPN. The Knights won the last two games of an extremely tight best of seven match to win their first title since 2006.

In the NCAA Championships, the Baker system was used. It's a system in which a team's five bowlers rotate through frames. The second game was tied until Nebraska left the seventh and eighth frames open. FDU took advantage and rolled two strikes to win that game 209-167. Nebraska won the next two games. Nebraska "rolled" the Knights 221-167 in the first game. That prompted FDU Head Coach Mike LoPresti to instruct his team to use different balls to adapt to the lanes.

The Corn huskers went ton to win the next two games and game 5 by the score of 221-201. FDU won the next game tying the series 3-3. In the deciding game, FDU Sophomore Kristina Mickelson, who entered the match in the second game, rolled two key strikes. Her teammate, Canadian Vickie Calberry, did the same thing. FDU Senior Erica Perez closed out the match and sealed the victory for the Knight s as she knocked down the last three pins, sparking a jubilant celebration last Saturday night for FDU. Perez is a native of Carteret, NJ, about 10 miles from the Brunswick Zone Caroller Lanes where the Championship was being held. The final score in game seven was 208-174 in favor of FDU.

"It was a perfect ending to a dream come true," Perez said. This was only the second time in the tournament's seven year history that the championship match went to seven games. "What a privilege everyone had here tonight," FDU Head Coach Mike LoPresti said. "This was, in my opinion, the best NCAA match ever."

Minor collegiate sports like bowling are hardly noticed by the fans and the media. Yours truly would not have known about it had he not watched some of the replay on ESPN last Sunday, April 11. The student-athletes who participate in these sports deserve to be recognized just as much as those who play the major, high visibility sports. We aim to do that here at kgussports.blogspot.com. For more info on this story, the reader can go to www.ncaachampionships.com.