MEAC Tournament Bracket | Friday Results
CHESAPEAKE, Va. – The No. 21 ranked Norfolk State bowling team ended the first day of the 2017 MEAC Championship in fourth place to earn the No. 4 seed during the qualifying rounds of the tournament on Friday at the AMF Lanes in Chesapeake.
Norfolk State got off to a fast start in the opening games of the day, winning both of those two contests in traditional play. The Spartans cooled off from there, ultimately going 3-2 during the first day of competition.
Seeding, though, was determined by total pins knocked down. The Spartans finished with a pinfall of 4,554, approximately 200 more than fifth-place Howard but 150 pins less than third-place Delaware State. As the No. 4 seed, the Spartans will face No. 5 seed Howard on Saturday morning in the first round of bracket play.
Saturday's action will feature double-elimination play. No. 1 seed Maryland Eastern Shore and No. 8 Bethune-Cookman will face off and are also on NSU's side of the bracket. One of those four teams – Howard included – will advance to the championship round on Sunday to face whomever comes out of the bottom half of the bracket. That side features No. 2 seed North Carolina A&T against No. 7 Florida A&M and No. 3 Delaware State against No. 6 Morgan State in the first games on Saturday.
Action begins at 9 a.m., with the final games in each bracket set to take place at 2 p.m. or 3:40 p.m. for the if-necessary game. Each game will be a best-of-seven series in Baker format.
On Friday, NSU quickly surged ahead, winning the first game of the day over Howard, 1,024-871. The Spartans then topped eighth-ranked Maryland Eastern Shore, 959-906. Ninth-ranked Delaware State then topped NSU in the next round, 943-874.
The Spartans rebounded to win 906-876 over Morgan State, but Florida A&M won a low-scoring contest against NSU in the last game of the day, 813-791.
Junior
Briana Gardner had games of 223 and 224 and finished fourth in terms of individual average among all bowlers at 205.0 in all five games. Sophomore
Alexa Rodriguez tallied a season-high 253 in the first game of the morning and held a 191.2 average at the end of the day.
Freshman
Aubrey Conrad rolled a 232 in the win over Morgan State and posted a 181.4 average. Freshmen
Jasmin Whitaker (170.8) and
Heizel Quinones (162.4) rounded out NSU's lineup, with Whitaker rolling a 204 against Howard to start the day.
Delaware State finished 5-0 and 18
th-ranked North Carolina A&T posted a 4-1 record. Norfolk State and Maryland Eastern Shore each went 3-2, although the Hawks took the No. 1 seed due to having the highest overall pinfall at 4,887. N.C. A&T (4,713) just edged out Delaware State (4,708) for the second spot.
