LOCKPORT, Ill. – The North Carolina A&T bowling team completed its first tournament in three weeks on Sunday, finishing 11th at the Storm Flyer Classic hosted by Lewis University at Strike & Spare II.
A&T went 1-2 on Sunday during best-of-seven bracket play, which was played in Baker format. They finished the tournament with an 8-5 record and a total pinfall of 12,587, averaging 193.6 over 65 games.
Individually, sophomore
Tiana Cruz led the way for the Aggies with a career-high total pinfall of 1,098 to average 215.40 over five games in traditional team play. Cruz had a career day on Saturday, posting a career-best game of 279 during the day. Junior
Payton Hartgrove also finished in the top 15, totaling 1,064 pins to average 212.80 to finish 13th. A&T opened the tournament with three wins, including two victories over Top 25 teams in the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) poll.
The Aggies, the 13th-ranked team in the nation, entered Sunday's best-of-seven bracket play as the No. 11 seed. They faced 12th-seeded Oklahoma Christian University (OCU) to open the day, using the lineup of Cruz, Hartgrove, freshman
Sara Giraldo, sophomore
Jasmine Hall, and sophomore
Victorya White.
The quintet trailed 2-1 going into Game 4 but evened the series at 2-2 with a 241-207 victory. But the Eagles, who lost to A&T on Saturday, finished the series strong, out-pinning the Aggies 510-403 to win the final two games and take the series 4-2.
The loss, in which the Aggies were out-pinned 1,267-1,202, put the Aggies into a matchup against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The lineup of Cruz, freshman
Alexa Escamilla, Hartgrove, Giraldo, and White bowled spectacularly against the Warhawks. A&T out-pinned the Warhawks 784-676 in a four-game sweep to advance to play for 11th place against OCU, which lost its previous match to 19th-ranked McKendree.
The Aggies kept the lineup they used against the Warhawks intact against the Eagles and jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the series by out-pinning OCU 406-344. OCU won Game 3, 194-182, before the Aggies took a commanding 3-1 lead in the series by winning Game 4, 203-193. A&T finished off the Eagles with a 180-138 Game 5 victory, winning the series 4-1 and out-pinning the Eagles 971-869.
A&T will go after its sixth straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular-season title in two weeks when they make a trip to Norfolk, Va., for MEAC Meet #2 hosted by Norfolk State University, February 21-22. The Aggies will enter the tournament in a first-place tie with 24th-ranked Delaware State at 5-2.
Coppin State and Morgan State are 4-3. The Aggies will have a total pins advantage of 6,564, followed by UAB's 6,276 and Morgan State's 6,084.
