HOWELL, N.J.-
Monmouth University's bowling team wrapped up the third and final league match
of the 2010-11 season last weekend, earning a bid to the 2011 NEC Bowling
Tournament in the process.
The Hawks will be the eighth seed in the tournament, which will feature six of
the teams ranked currently ranked in the National Tenpin Coaches Poll,
including top-ranked defending National Champion Fairleigh Dickinson.
"This was a challenging weekend but we overcame some obsticles and we grinded it out," said head coach Karen Grygiel. "We did what we had to do to get by and made it in by the skin of our teeth but we got there. We are very excited for the opportunity to go to the NEC Championships our first year."
Monmouth, which went 3-6 on the weekend, needed either a win against Kutztown
or a Saint Peter's loss in the final match of the weekend to make the
tournament in the program's inaugural season.
The Hawks fell to eighth-ranked Kutztown but still secured the eighth
and final seed in the NEC Tournament after Saint Francis (N.Y.) bested Saint
Peter's in the final match of the day.
Monmouth, which was without one of its top bowlers for the weekend in junior Rikki Del Donno, finished 8-19 in NEC play this season.
MU posted a 2-2 mark after the first day of competition before going 1-4 on day
two. One of the day one marquee wins was
a 946-839 conquest of 15
th-ranked Saint Francis (N.Y.). The Hawks also posted wins over Saint Peter's and New Jersey City University on the weekend.
Individually, sophomore Jolisa Aquino (North Bergen, N.J./High Tech) led the
Hawks with a 181.1 average on the weekend, which was 24th among all bowlers. Freshman Brittany Havens (Bordentown,
N.J./Bordentown Regional) was next for the Hawks with a 172.5 average while senior
Lauren Lella (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) was three spots behind her with a 171.6
avg.
Monmouth has the week off, before returning to the lanes on
Friday, March 18th in the Music City Classic, hosted by Vanderbilt
University.
