HOUSTON, Tex. - The LIU Brooklyn bowling team beat two teams ranked in the top-5 nationally, on Friday at the Stormin' LadyJack Classic, hosted by Stephen F. Austin University in Houston, Texas. The Blackbirds carried a 3-2 mark, with all five opponents ranked in the top-25, on day one of the three-day event.
The Blackbirds posted their best team score of the day in the first match versus No. 4 Vanderbilt, coming away with a 1044-986 victory. The team of Kellie Frain,
Marlee Tyler,
Tyler Karpinecz,
Kayla Johnson and senior
Lauren McKowen in the anchor position, threw combined 200+ scores in the first three games of the baker match to seal the win.
Next up was No. 5 Sam Houston State, which LIU topped last month at Kutztown, and it was a comeback win for the Blackbirds to start the day 2-0. Following the third game of the five game match, LIU was down by 59 pins (549-490), but finished with a 196 and a 231 in the fifth game to take match 917-898. In the match, Johnson led off the team and the freshmen tandem of Frain and Sarah Florence threw second in the lineup.
LIU dropped the next two matches to two teams in the top ten of the national rankings. First No. 9 Tulane topped the Blackbirds 1000-923, the the No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers beat the Blackbirds, 1157-957.
The No. 16 Blackbirds (44-28) showed their toughness in the last match of the day, going down by 34 pins early to No. 17 North Carolina A&T, but the team of Frain, Tyler, Karpinecz, McKowen and Johnson bowled a 209 and 202 in games four and five to squeeze out a 889-878 win.
Saturday's action will switch to traditional matches, before concluding on Sunday with a bracketed playoff. With a scoring average of 189.3, the Blackbirds stand in 11th place and will matchup with No. 13 Alabama-Birmingham in a position round to start off. Then LIU is scheduled to face No. 3 Arkansas State, No. 19 Louisiana Tech, the host No. 7 SFA and Bethune-Cookman in that order. Play at Copperfield Bowl is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.