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April 13, 2006
Houston, Texas - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) left a few faces with a surprised look on the opening day of the 2006 National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Women's Bowling Championship. However, none of those were their own, as the Hawks earned the number four seed in the tournament after knocking down 7,330 pins. They knew they could do it all along. "It's a great feeling," said Head Coach Sharon Brummell. "I think we were capable of doing even better, but we have never been seeded this high after the qualifying round and I think we surprised a few people with how well the girls came out and bowled today." The Hawks, currently ranked seventh in the nation in the latest polls, were one of the last few teams to earn an at-large bid to the tournament to the eight-team field. Today they stand in the top half of the standings and take on five seeded Alabama A & M who tallied 7,304 pins, 26 less than UMES. The top seed came as no surprise to the field as the University of Nebraska, winners of the last and only two NCAA Championships knocked down 7,773 pins to earn a match with surprise eight seed New Jersey City University. The Gothic Knights were the runners-up to the crown in 2004 and came into the competition ranked fourth in the country. They tallied just 7,13 pins. Fairleigh Dickinson and Central Missouri State finished two and three respectively while Vanderbilt took sixth and MEAC rival Bethune-Cookman College was seventh. UMES started out well bowling team games where each individual bowls their own pinfall. They opened game one with a 965, followed with an 890, 869 and 949. Individually the Hawks highest finisher was Jessica Worsley who was twelfth with a 762 series. That place may not seem overly high but UMES was consistent as Sandra Maresca was 14th, Laura Zanrucha was 18th and Maryetta Lewis was 20th.
After the round of four, where neither wins nor losses were counted, just pinfall, the Hawks went into Baker games. The qualifying format featured a five game set as opposed to tomorrow's rounds that will be all seven game sets in a Baker format. UMES felt confident knowing it was a strong Baker team, a format where the entire team bowls with the first bowler rolling frames one and six, the second rolling frames two and seven and so on. In fact, UMES rolled the first ever perfect Baker game in NCAA history at these very lanes in the 2004 championships. That is a feat that has yet to be duplicated in competition. They rolled Baker scores of 905, 909, 955 and 888. At the end of it all the Hawks finished the Bakers where they started them, in fourth place. While they peaked at the third spot during different times of the day they settled for a top half finish and a date with the Bulldogs of Alabama A&M. Action continues tomorrow morning at 8:30 am Central Time at the Emerald Bowl. The format is double elimination with the winners advancing to Saturday's television finals aired on ESPN.
View the 2006 Bracket Here
View the complete day one standings here
View the Individual Results here
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