LIVE VIDEO / NEC FRONT ROW
BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The LIU Brooklyn bowling team is aiming for the top seed in the Northeast Conference, as they co-host the final league meet of the regular season with St. Francis Brooklyn. The three-day event will take place at Farmingdale Lanes in Farmingdale, N.Y, from February 23-25.
The No. 16 nationally-ranked Blackbirds stand at 4-2 in league action so far, tied for first place in the NEC with No. 12 Sacred Heart and No. 14 Saint Francis U., after the first regular-season NEC meet where each team squared off once. This weekend, all seven NEC member teams (including No. 10 Fairleigh Dickinson, No. 18 Duquesne, Caldwell, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn and Saint Francis U.) will square off twice - once in traditional play and once in baker format, for an 18-match league slate.
"We did well at the last NEC meet," said LIU head coach Kayla Jones. "But it will take another weekend like that, or better, to finish in the top. We will play everyone this weekend twice, and that means a little more pressure. Additionally, the the top two seeds after this weekend get byes into the final championship bracket."
"The teams in the conference are pretty even, and we have wins and losses against all of them. We will need to continue to stay focused on what we can do to the best of our ability. If we compete like we are capable of doing, there is no question we will be at the top at the end of the weekend."
The Blackbirds are coming off of a successful showing in Houston this past weekend at the Stephen F. Austin LadyJack Classic, finishing ninth out of 18 teams, with a 7-6 overall record. The Blackbirds beat both No. 4 Vanderbilt and No. 5 Sam Houston State, and held a 190.6 team scoring average in the field of 18 teams, 16 of which are currently ranked in the top 25.
"Last weekend was a good setup for this coming weekend's matches," said Jones. "We had wins over two top-five teams in the nation, and that is something to be proud of. But the weekend's ending message to the team was to remember what got us there, and how we did it."
Who got them there is senior Lauren McKowen and junior Kayla Johnson, who both shined at the ultra-competitive three-day event. McKowen's 207.6 traditional game average and Johnson's 20.83 overall frame average each led all NEC athletes in the competition, and the two were named Prime Performers by the NEC.
LIU will begin play in Farmingdale with five traditional matches on Friday, followed by taking on their remaining foe, Caldwell Saturday morning. After a break on Saturday, the teams will face off with six baker matches (five-game total pinfall) before concluding on Sunday.