BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The No. 16 LIU Brooklyn bowling team is heading to South Jersey this weekend for the Monmouth Hawk Flight Invitational in Egg Harbor Township in N.J. The three-day meet, hosted by Monmouth, will feature four of the seven Northeast Conference teams, just after the final NEC regular season event and only three weeks before the Championship.
Besides No. 10 Fairleigh Dickinson, No. 18 Duquesne and St. Francis Brooklyn, the Monmouth meet will feature three other nationally-ranked teams: No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Sam Houston State and No. 21 Norfolk State.
On Friday, March 3, the tournament will begin with five baker matches, then five traditional matches are slated for Saturday, March 4. The event will finish with a bracketed playoff (best-of-seven baker format) on Sunday, March 5. Each team's average pinfall over the first two days at the King Pin Bowling Center will determine the seeding and matchups.
SECOND PLACE SECURED IN THE NEC
The Blackbirds bounced back from a slow start to the second NEC weekend -- to grab sole possession of second place in the Northeast Conference final standings and now will not have to play at all on the first day of the NEC Championships on March 23-25. It's the highest regular season finish in Blackbirds' history.
LIU came into last weekend with a 4-2 NEC mark following one series of round robin play. Then the team went 1-4 in the team's first five matches. But the Blackbirds dug in and went 6-1 over the last seven matches, finishing the weekend 7-5, and holding a 11-7 overall record in NEC play this season.
Individually, sophomore Tyler Karpinecz led the team in traditional scoring with a 185.83 (13th) average in six matches, followed by junior Kayla Johnson with a 183.80 average in five matches.
LAST YEAR AT MONMOUTH
The Blackbirds finished In seventh place overall, closing out with a perfect 3-0 Sunday, last year. Then junior Kristina Genova led the team in traditional format with a 216 and 213 (16th overall) on the middle day of the event.
NEXT UP: MUSIC CITY
LIU will have another break for the weekend of March 9-11, before traveling to Smyrna, Tennessee - just outside Nashville, for the Vanderbilt Music City Classic event, March 16-18.