Women's Bowling
2009-10

NORTHEAST CONFERENCE BOWLING PAGE

Northeast Conference Weekly Notebook 12-9-09

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Northeast Conference Members Sweep through Richmond: Each of the top four team finishers at the 2009 Jeannette Lee Invitational (Dec. 5-6) call the Northeast Conference home.  Led by tournament champion Fairleigh Dickinson (9,326), NEC programs accounted for a 1-2-3-4 sweep in the final team standings, which were determined by total pinfall, at the annual 20-team event in Richmond, Virginia.  New Jersey City (9,316) was the runner-up to FDU followed by Sacred Heart (9,166) in third place and Adelphi (9,136) in fourth.  Last year's NCAA finalist Central Missouri, which carries no conference affiliation, finished fifth.  The four NEC members posted a combined record of 43-1 at the meet, which was the last scheduled competition of the calendar year.  FDU was responsible for the lone loss in the group, a 772-768 setback to Central Missouri, but still captured the overall team title by virtue of its 9,326 total pinfall.

NEC All Wrapped Up for Holiday Season: All eight Northeast Conference bowling members have completed competition for the 2009 calendar year.  Seven of the eight contested last weekend’s Jeannette Lee Invitational (Dec. 5-6) in Richmond, Virginia and will now break for the holidays.  Saint Peter’s, the lone NEC team to not visit Richmond, last competed at the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawk Classic (Nov. 20-22).  The bowling season resume in 2010 when St. Francis (NY) hosts its annual New Year’s Knockdown (Jan. 15-17).

Zientara Sparks Sacred Heart's Much-needed Surge: In a weekend's time, Savannah Zientara (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter) and the Pioneers have made a 180-degree about face.  Sacred Heart, a NCAA Championship qualifier in four of the past six seasons, was in need of a spark after an unexpected slow start to the season.  The Pioneers held the No. 9 ranking in the preseason edition of the National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 20 Poll, but slipped to 18th after posting a 13-20 record in its first three competitions.  With Richmond, Virginia as the backdrop, Sacred Heart slammed the brakes on its slide and surged above the .500 mark by posting a perfect 11-0 record at the 20-team Jeannette Lee Invitational. Zientara's 20.02 frame average spearheaded the surge as the Pioneers posted the third-best total pinfall (9,166) to finish behind only NEC rivals Fairleigh Dickinson and New Jersey City.  Regaining the first team all-Northeast Conference form she displayed as a freshman, Zientara filled 88.0 percent of her frames over 11 starts.  The second-year Pioneer cashed in on 51.2 percent of her strike attempts.

Fairleigh Dickinson Appears Back on Track: The Jeannette Lee tournament crown was Fairleigh Dickinson's first of any kind since the Knights won the inaugural Northeast Conference Championship last March at Parkway Lanes.  The Knights, a 2009 NCAA semifinalist, entered the season ranked third in the NTCA Top 20 Poll before slipping to No. 5 in the latest edition of the monthly survey. “While we lost the battle in the final round, we achieved our primary goal, to come and win the event,” said FDU head coach Mike LoPresti. “This is something that speaks volumes about the development of the team.” LoPresti's team has been hot of late.  Following a 3-4 record that tied them for fifth place of the Northeast Conference Fall Meet, the Knights were the runner-up at the UMES Hawk Invitational, which featured 10 nationally-ranked teams, before their triumph in Richmond.

America's Best Heighten Presence in Latest NTCA Top 20 Poll: Northeast Conference members own five of the first 11 spots in the latest edition of the National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 20 Poll, which was released on December 3.  Fairliegh Dickinson (fifth), New Jersey City (eighth), Kutztown (ninth), St. Francis (NY) (10th), and Adelphi (11th) give the NEC a strong presence amongst America's Best.  Sacred Heart, which slipped nine spots from its preseason No. 9 ranking, stands 18th in the monthly survey while Saint Peter's stands a few votes away from cracking the Top 20. The NEC had six representatives in the NTCA Preseason Poll.  Fairleigh Dickinson, New Jersey City, Sacred Heart, Kutztown, Adelphi, and St. Francis (NY), who together comprise three-fourths of the NEC's women's bowling membership base, were ranked among America's top 20 heading into the 2009-10 season.  Fairleigh Dickinson, which was one of the last four teams standing at the 2009 NCAA Championships, owned the NEC's highest ranking at No. 3 before slipping to fifth in the December installment.

Brooklyn-based St. Francis Reaching New Heights: St. Francis (NY) bowling continued the best start in program history by posting a 9-2 record at the Jeannette Lee Invitational (Dec. 5-6).  Owning a 27-9 record, the Terriers have also accomplished something no athletic team in the institution's history has ever done.  St. Francis (NY) moved up eight spots in the December edition of the NTCA Top 20 Poll to No. 10, accounting for the first-ever top-10 national ranking in the College's history.  The Terriers sit tied atop the NEC standings following a 5-2 finish at the first of two regular season conference meets.  Their overall win percentage (.750) is also the league's best.

Long Island Doubles Up: Long Island posted its first winning weekend of the season by finishing 6-5 at the Jeannette Lee Invitational (Dec. 5-6).  The Blackbirds, who carried a 3-18 overall record into their fourth competition of the fall, more than doubled their win percentage in two days time.  Now 9-26 overall, LIU bumped its win percentage from .125 to .257.  Led by head coach Jocelyn Davis, a former standout bowler at Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island is in its second year as a program.

New Jersey City Makes a Statement: First-year Northeast Conference member New Jersey City was a pedestrian 13-13 in non-league matches heading into the Jeannette Lee Invitational (Dec. 5-6).  The Gothic Knights, who are looking for an unprecedented seventh consecutive NCAA Championship berth, won all 11 of its matches there and finished 10 pins behind tournament champion Fairleigh Dickinson in the overall team standings. 

Northeast Conference Fall Meet Recap

Deep and Talented: One can gauge the extraordinary competitiveness of Northeast Conference bowling by taking a quick glance at the final team standings from the NEC Fall Meet (Nov. 14-15) in Reading, Pennsylvania.  With every NEC program playing seven combined matches (one against each of the eight-team league’s other members), four teams posted identical 5-2 records during the two-day competition.  Making for a true indicator of the conference’s depth, neither Fairleigh Dickinson nor Sacred Heart, two perennial NCAA title contenders, are part of the four-way tie atop the NEC standings.  FDU, which holds the highest ranking (3rd) of any NEC team in the latest edition of the NTCA Top 20 Poll, finished 3-4 against league foes while No. 9 Sacred Heart managed only two wins.

Kutztown’s KJ Great in Baker Play This Time Around: Kutztown’s Kayla Jones (Johnstown, PA/Westmont Hilltop) took the Northeast Conference by storm during her freshman season of 2008-09, compiling a 203.5 average over 10 traditional games against NEC opponents.  In the first conference competition of her sophomore season, Jones saw her traditional average slump a bit, but rebounded in a big way during baker play.  After registering a 184.4 average over seven traditional games, including an uncharacteristic 155, Jones accounted for a team-high 21.0 baker frame average.  The league’s reigning Rookie of the Year converted 58.6% of her  strike opportunities in baker play compared to a 38.3 strike percentage in traditional games during the two-day NEC Fall Meet (Nov.14-15).

Terriers Bite Back, Post Largest Pinfall: St. Francis (NY) lost its first two matches by a combined 23 pins, but won every match thereafter on the way to compiling the highest total pinfall (9,052) at the Northeast Conference Fall Meet (Nov. 14-15).  The only one of the conference’s eight members to post a pinfall in excess of 9,000, the Terriers pieced together five consecutive victories and sit in a four-way tie atop the NEC standings as a result.  New Jersey City (1355-1340) and Kutztown (1273-1265) were the lone two teams to defeat St. Francis (NY) during the two-day competition.

NEC Offseason Happenings

FDU Tabbed NEC Preseason No. 1: Five-time NCAA semifinalist Fairleigh Dickinson stands as a preseason favorite to capture its second consecutive Northeast Conference (NEC) bowling crown. The defending NEC champions garnered six first-place votes in a poll of the league's eight head coaches.  Kutztown, the runner-up at last year's championship, garnered the remaining two first-place nods to finish directly behind FDU in second. The Northeast Conference released the survey results as a prelude its second season on the lanes. Set for its first season of NEC competition, six-time NCAA participant New Jersey City claimed third in the poll. Sacred Heart, last year's Preseason No. 1, finished fourth followed by Adelphi in fifth and St. Francis (NY) in sixth. Saint Peter's and Long Island were seventh and eighth, respectively. "We are honored by the selection of the NEC coaches," FDU head coach Michael Lopresti said graciously. "Nobody knows better than they do about the effort it takes to operate a program on a national level. Their consensus is quite flattering, especially with so many quality programs we have in the conference that could have been chosen."

It’s Not Getting Any Easier:  NEC Adds New Jersey City: The Northeast Conference (NEC) recently announced the addition of New Jersey City University (NJCU) as an associate member in the sport of women's bowling.  The perennial NCAA title contender increases the NEC's bowling membership to a total of eight programs prior to the start of the 2009-10 season. "We are excited about becoming associate members of the Northeast Conference," stated Alice De Fazio, NJCU's interim director of athletics.  "The NEC is a reputable and highly-respected conference, and our women's bowling program will benefit greatly from this opportunity." NJCU joins Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island, Sacred Heart, and St. Francis (NY) along with associate members Adelphi, Kutztown, and Saint Peter's, for what will be the bowling league's second season of competition following its formation in 2008. "New Jersey City brings a rich history of bowling success into the Northeast Conference.  The addition of NJCU instantaneously enhances the NEC's bowling profile and will help the league build on an outstanding inaugural season," said Interim NEC Commissioner Ron Ratner. NJCU, which was unaffiliated prior to joining the NEC, founded its bowling program in 2000 and placed Frank Parisi at the helm.  The only head coach in program history has guided New Jersey City into elite company.  NJCU is one of only four institutions nationwide to have qualified for the eight-team NCAA Tournament bracket every year since 2003-04, the year the national governing body elevated women's bowling to championship sport status.  New Jersey City, Nebraska, Central Missouri, and Maryland-Eastern Shore are the lone programs to have compiled six NCAA appearances.