VALPARAISO, IN - The Monmouth University women's bowling team finished in ninth place at the 7th Annual Crusader Classic this past weekend, while junior Kaitlyn Reth (Baltimore, MD/Overlea) claimed a top-10 individual finish at the three-day event at Inmen's Recreation Center.
Monmouth dropped all five of its matches on Friday, all to teams ranked in the preseason top-25. The Hawks dropped its first match to #25 Alabama State (870-801), fell to #9 McKendree (957-944), lost to #8 Central Missouri (1,031-860), dropped a decision to #7 Wisconsin-Whitewater (979-862) and lost to #1 Nebraska (936-854) in the final match of the day, to stand in 12th place out of 14 teams.
The Hawks responded on day two, going 4-1 with four straight victories to open the round. MU topped Alabama A&M (902-626), #21 Prairie View (946-868), where senior Valerie Bermudez (Guayanbo, Puerto Rico/Cupey Maria Montessori) threw a 241, Elmhurst (894-803) and host #15 Valparaiso (966-929), before dropping the final game of the day to #19 Tulane 886-883, despite Reth's 256.
Seeded 10th entering the final day of competition based on total pinfall, the Hawks went 2-1 on day three, which was a best 4-of-7 Baker Format. After trailing two games to one, Monmouth rallied to win game three with a 236 and went on to lead 3-2, but Tulane rallied to win the final two games by two and five pins, respectively. In MU's match two win over Alabama State, the Hawks rolled a team score of 206 in the final game to seal the 4-2 victory. Monmouth defeated Tulane in the final Baker match 4-2, taking the final two games to secure the win and land in ninth place overall.
"Considering what a difficult start we had against very good competition, we made a strong comeback," stated head coach Karen Grygiel. "We have a lot of work to do, but we showed resiliency this weekend, which is a positive."
Reth, who posted a game average of 202.6, finished in ninth place overall as an individual (the top-five in earn all-tournament honors), while sophomore Allison Carola (Mechanicville, PA/Mechanicville) claimed 14th place (197.4).
Monmouth returns to action November 20-22, when the Hawks compete at the UMES Hawk Classic, hosted by University of Maryland - Eastern Shore at Millsboro Lanes, in Millsboro, Delaware.
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Crusader Classic Final Tournament Standings/Statistics
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