PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Norfolk State bowling team had a strong showing at the second MEAC regular season tournament of the season, finishing 6-6 overall over the course of three days at Cordova Lanes.
 
NSU won two matches each day of the tournament hosted by Florida A&M, including both of its contests on Sunday and a win over a ranked team on the first day. But only Friday's and Saturday's ones counted toward MEAC records, and the Spartans finished the regular season at 5-15 in the conference.
 
As a result, they finished outside the top 8 in the standings, coming up short of qualifying for the MEAC Tournament next month.
 
The Spartans finished tied for fifth out of 11 teams with their 6-6 record on the weekend. They won their first two matches of the tournament on Friday in Baker play, topping No. 21 UAB by a narrow 879-867 margin before defeating Coppin State, 901-818.
 
The next three did not go NSU's way, with losses to No. 18 Delaware State (910-762), Howard (798-756) and No. 6 Maryland Eastern Shore (1,023-740).
 
Traditional play on Saturday saw the Spartans win their second and fourth matches of the day. After a 903-790 loss to No. 22 Monmouth, they topped Bethune-Cookman, 757-735. Florida A&M took care of NSU by a 918-753 edge, but after a bye the Spartans came away with a win in the last contest of the afternoon, 862-754 over Morgan State.
 
Sophomore Crystal Brewer rolled the only 200 game of the day for Norfolk State. She had a 202 in the loss to Monmouth, part of a 178.0 average in five matches, including the bye. Freshmen Chanel Staton (169.8) and Megan Wheat (162.6) also bowled in all five matches.
 
Sunday began with the last official MEAC match for the Spartans, another Baker game. No. 8 North Carolina A&T grabbed the win in that contest, 914-748.
 
Later in the day in bracket play, NSU found itself matched up with B-CU yet again. The Spartans won four of the five games in the best-of-seven Baker series. They also overcame an early 2-0 deficit to top MSU by a 4-2 edge in the last match of the weekend.
 
NSU will next compete in the TNBA/HBCU Invitational Collegiate Tournament on March 7-8 in Forest Park, Ga.