CHESAPEAKE, Va. – The Norfolk State bowling team ended the weekend 4-2 in conference play and 5-4 overall during the first MEAC Southern Divisional of the season at the AMF Chesapeake Lanes.
Hosted by the No. 23 Spartans, the divisional featured No. 18 North Carolina A&T, Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman. The Aggies of A&T posted a 5-1 record to take the early lead in the race for the regular season divisional crown.
The Spartans went 2-1 on Saturday in the traditional games and 2-1 on Sunday in Baker play. They also posted a 1-2 record on Saturday in three Baker games, although they only counted for overall records, not toward any team's MEAC marks.
The Spartans fell in both Baker matches to Florida A&M and also lost once in traditional and once in Baker to N.C. A&T. The Rattlers went 2-4 in official MEAC matches to fall two games behind the Spartans. Bethune-Cookman finished with a 1-5 record.
Saturday saw NSU drop its match to A&T in traditional play, 935-888, before the Spartans went on to top Florida A&M (901-870) and Bethune-Cookman (869-821).
Sophomore
Aubrey Conrad and senior
Briana Gardner led the way for NSU. Conrad averaged 192.7 in all three games, and Gardner tallied a 190.7 average. Junior
Alexa Rodriguez backed them up by averaging 181.7.
In addition, senior
Meagan Marciano carried a 168.0 average in three games, while sophomore
Heizel Quinones and freshman
McKayla Lang split time at the last spot in the lineup.
Also on Saturday, NSU suffered losses to Florida A&M (885-787) and by just eight pins to A&T (879-871) in Baker play. The Spartans did come away with a 943-714 victory over Bethune-Cookman in between.
They also topped the Aggies on Sunday in Baker action, 932-895, in matches that did count toward MEAC records. Norfolk State topped Bethune-Cookman again, 990-764, but again fell to FAMU in the first Baker match of the day, 1,014-936.
NSU moved its overall record to 12-6 on the season. The Spartans will next return to action on Dec. 2-3 in the second of three divisionals of the season. Florida A&M will serve as the host down in Tallahassee, Florida.
