EAST HAVEN, Conn. -- Kellie Frain led LIU Brooklyn bowling team to a tie for third place in the team event on Saturday at the Sacred Heart Bowl for the Cure event and then continued on to win the individual title. Frain, a sophomore, won four traditional singles matches, including the final, 158-157, over Carly Licht of Molloy, to take the first place prize to end LIU's first appearance in the event on a very high note.
In team play, the No. 19 Blackbirds (9-6) started off single-day meet in East Haven, Conn. with their best match of the day, beating their hosts, No. 12 Sacred Heart, the defending NEC regular season champions, 1023-975, behind a fantastic 255 by Frain in the leadoff spot. Senior Kayla Johnson, throwing in the anchor position, bowled a 223, while sophomores Stephanie Judkins and Jennifer Roback scored a 191 and 190 respectively to help the team eclipse the 1000 pin mark for the first time this season.
In match number two, junior Tyler Karpinecz bounced back from a slow start to the day with a team high 214 in traditional bowling, followed by Frain (210) and Johnson (192), but the Blackbirds fell for the second time this season to Adelphi, 923-955. In the middle match, LIU lost to Molloy by nine pins, 872-881, with Johnson anchoring the team again with a team-high 190.
Next up in match four was the team's closest match of the day, an 818-823 defeat by their counterparts from LIU Post. In the final match of the round robin format, the Blackbirds got back on the win column to beat Caldwell, 886-873, behind a 221 from Karpinecz to close out the team event.
Frain led LIU with a 200.2 average, which was the third highest in the tournament, while Johnson averaged 190.2 and Karpinecz averaged 186.4, which was 8th and 9th individually, respectively. The Blackbirds finished with 2-3 record, in a three way tie with SHU and LIU Post, behind first place Adelphi (5-0) and Molloy (3-2) in the final team standings on the day at AMF Circle Lanes, before the attention turned to the singles competition.
For the individual tournament, three Blackbirds earned a chance for the singles title. Frain and Johnson qualified automatically with top-eight scoring totals and Karpinecz shot a 206 to make it into the top 16. In the round of 16, all three Blackbirds advanced to the next round, the quarterfinals, where Johnson and Karpinecz' night came to an end.
But Frain kept up her torrid pace and had a 199.5 scoring average in her four singles games on the way to the individual title, winning the championship match by a single pin.
Next up, LIU will have the rest of October off of competition before heading to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the UW-Whitewater Warhawk Classic from November 9-11 at AMF West Lanes.