READING, Pa. – Senior Thea Aspiras was named the Most Valuable Player in helping the Norfolk State bowling team place seventh at the Kutztown Invitational over the weekend at the Hiester Lanes.

In a loaded field that featured 14 ranked teams, Aspiras topped all bowlers by averaging 222.8 in six games on Saturday. The Spartans ended the weekend with an 11-4 overall record, finishing Sunday's bracket play in the same seventh place that they found themselves after Saturday.

Aspiras ended Saturday's team play eight pins ahead of the next highest bowler thanks to four 200 games, including a 259 in the first game. She was not the only Spartan to have a solid weekend, as junior Kelsea Yarbrough averaged 205.5 in six games and just missed all-tournament honors.

Junior Delilah Bethel posted a 197.3 average in six games as well. Junior Courtney Brown posted a 178.8 average in five games, while freshman Nicole Rivera Santiago had a 180.3 average in four games. Juniors Emily Weber and Ashley Buck combined to bowl in the other three games.

The Spartans went 5-1 on Saturday, winning five straight to start the day. It began with a 1,013-986 win over No. 12 Sacred Heart. They followed it up with a victory over Mt. Aloysius, 968-566, and then downed No. 13 Adelphi, 952-892.

Two more wins followed, a 982-814 victory over PSU Altoona and a 1,062-915 triumph over No. 9 Kutztown. No. 11 St. Francis (Pa.) handed NSU its only loss on the day in the final match, 936-892.

The Spartans opened up the tournament on Friday in Baker play with an 881-690 loss to No. 4 Fairleigh Dickinson. NSU then won two in a row, 728-473 over Medaille and 818-531 to Pitt-Bradford. Another loss followed for NSU, 752-689 to No. 20 LIU Brooklyn.

NSU rebounded with two more wins over ranked teams, 739-713 over No. 18 Monmouth and 788-713 against No. 17 St. Francis Brooklyn. The Spartans were ninth in total pinfall at 4,452 after Friday's opening round before jumping up to seventh after Saturday with 10,321.

In the Baker bracket round on Sunday, seventh-seeded NSU fell to No. 5 Stephen F. Austin, 4-1, before bouncing back with a 4-2 victory over St. Francis (Pa.). The Spartans wrapped up the tournament by knocking off North Carolina A&T for seventh place, 4-2.

NSU will be back on the road at the Prairie View A&M Invitational next weekend.