CHESAPEAKE, Va. – The No. 15 Norfolk State bowling team finished in seventh place after going 2-3 on the second day of the Hampton Roads Invitational on Sunday at the AMF Lanes in Chesapeake.

The Spartans finished the weekend at 6-4 thanks to a 4-1 record on Saturday in team play. NSU tied with No. 12 Kutztown for the best record on the first day of the tournament, but the Spartans only ranked sixth in terms of total pinfall.

Combined with Sunday's pinfall in Baker play – the teams counted the scores from just the first four games in those best-of-seven matches – NSU ranked seventh going into a final positioning round. In that last match of the day, the Spartans defeated Morgan State in a battle for seventh place overall.

Saturday began with a loss to Kutztown, 860-839, but the Spartans rebounded to win the next four. It started with a 777-710 victory over Virginia State and was followed by a triumph over Morgan State, 864-750.

Norfolk State continued with an 891-838 win over Monmouth and an 885-856 victory over eventual tournament champion North Carolina A&T. NSU totaled 4,256 pins, with Monmouth (4,461) and Kutztown (4,447) finishing 1-2 after Saturday.

Freshman Nicole Rivera Santiago had the best weekend for NSU in team play, rolling a 197.0 average in three games and just missing out on all-tournament honors because she did not play in at least four games.

Thea Aspiras, honored on Sunday for Senior Day, averaged 183.6 in all five games the day before, with the next highest average on the team belonging to newcomer Emily Weber at 176.5 in two games. Junior Courtney Brown bowled in all five games, while juniors Delilah Bethel (four games), Kelsea Yarbrough (three), Courtney Williford (two) and Ashley Buck (one) all bowled as well on Saturday.

Valerie Bermudez of Monmouth had a tournament-best 197.3 average, and she was joined on the all-tournament team by teammate Kaitlyn Reith, Emily Strombeck and Mackenzie Robinson of A&T and Brooke Bower of Kutztown.

On Sunday, the Spartans defeated Hampton 4-1 in Baker play and also took care of Morgan State in the final match of the tournament 4-0 for seventh place. In between, NSU came up short against Bowie State, 4-1, and also dropped a couple of 4-2 decisions to ranked teams, No. 11 Adelphi and No. 17 St. Francis Brooklyn.

Monmouth came in second behind North Carolina A&T after getting swept by the Aggies in the final match. Adelphi finished third, with Kutztown and St. Francis Brooklyn rounding out the top 5. Bowie State, NSU, Morgan State, Virginia State and Hampton ended the tournament in the sixth through 10th spots.

Norfolk State will compete at the first of three MEAC Southern Divisionals on the year in two weeks from Nov. 9-10 in Greensboro, N.C.