CHESAPEAKE, Va. – The Norfolk State bowling team kicked off its 2010-11 season by taking the team title at the Hampton Roads Invitational Saturday and Sunday at the AMF Lanes in Chesapeake.
No. 19 NSU defeated Saint Peter's 4 games to 1 in Baker play in the championship match to hoist the title trophy. The Spartans defeated all five teams – Saint Peter's, Long Island, Bowie State, St. Paul's and Hampton – in match play and went 3-2 in Baker play.
Freshman
Thea Aspiras got her collegiate career started off on the right foot, posting the highest pin total on the weekend and getting named to the All-Tournament Team. Aspiras averaged 202.2, including a high game of 266.
She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by sophomore teammates
Lauren Graupmann (188.8) and
Jessica Overton (185.2) along with Bowie State's Vera Diggs and Hampton's Rebecca Glazier.
NSU defeated Long Island in the seventh game of the best-of-7 format, 182-161, to win in the semifinals Sunday afternoon in Baker play before downing Saint Peter's in the championship. The Spartans received a bye in the first round of bracket play as the No. 1 seed.
Earlier in the tournament, the Spartans lost to Saint Peter's, 4-0, and to Hampton, 4-2, but defeated Long Island, 4-2, in the Baker format.
The Spartans went undefeated in match play, downing Long Island, 920-842, and then handing Saint Peter's its only loss, 970-802, with Overton posting a collegiate high 228. Aspiras' 266 helped the Spartans to a 946-871 win over Bowie State, and NSU later defeated Hampton, 934-802, and St. Paul's, 846-714.
NSU knocked down 4,616 pins for a 923.2 team average. Saint Peter's was the next closest team with a 855.0 average.
Along with the three named to the All-Tournament Team, junior
Sheila-Marie Smith averaged 177.2 in all five games, while junior
Chelsea Krall averaged 170.5 in four games with senior
Antoinette Drakeford rolling a 167 in the fifth game in place of Krall.
NSU will be back in action in two weeks at the MEAC Southern Division meet in Greensboro, N.C., Nov. 13-14.