FREDERICK, Md. (Oct. 21, 2019)-The Morgan State Bears' bowling team competed in their first weekend of competition for the 2019-20 season under new head coach, Tom Falbo. The Bears ended up 1-8 on the weekend and in 16^th place in a 16-team field.

Saturday, October 19 – Traditional Matches
Terrace Lanes (Frederick, Md.) 

Match #1
Morgan State – 766
Medaille – 870

The Bears faced the defending AMCC Champion of 2018-19 in the Medaille Mavericks. The Mavericks took the Match #1 win. Ashanti Ferdandes led Morgan State with a solid 198 game.

Match #2
Morgan State – 722
Mercyhurst – 760

Match 2 saw the scoring come down to opens of missed makables in the 9^th and 10^th frames costing Morgan State the match. Fernandes again led the Bears with a 185.

Match #3
Morgan State – 764
Chestnut Hill – 905

Fernandes kept her strong play going with a 207 game, but the team scoring could not keep pace with Chestnut Hill who earned the win in Match #3. 
 

Match #4
Morgan State – 759
Felician – 871

In Match #4, senior Diamond Hunter made a ball change which gave her the look she needed to unleash her talent and scoring ability. Hunter led the Bears with a 201 in their defeat to Felician. 

Match #5
Morgan State – 786
Wilmington – 924

The resiliency of the Bears all day to stay positive paid off with their highest traditional match score of the day. Again Hunter kept her foot on the gas, topping the Bears scoring with a 200 game.

On the day, Fernandes led the Bears in team average for traditional scoring with a 184.2, finishing 17^th overall in the tournament.

Regarding Saturday's action Coach Falbo states, "This weekend is about learning who we are, but most importantly bringing the unity built within this team to support all we do and work hard to get better each time out. Ashanti's accuracy and spare shooting was very good today, which is something our team works hard on in practice. With Diamond, once she has a look she knows what to do with it. On a pattern where the left side played brutal, she repeated great shots. We're looking forward as a team to a better scoring day on Sunday." 
 

Sunday, October 20 – Baker Matches
Terrace Lanes (Frederick, Md.)
 

Match #6
Morgan State - 809
Youngstown State – 945

Morgan State faced the tournament leading YSU Penguins in their opening match. The Bears improved their scoring by 10 pins a game, and registered a 202 baker game in a loss against Youngstown State.

Match #7
Morgan State – 844
Roberts Wesleyan – 831

Morgan State earned its first match win of the 2019-20 campaign with the highest set of the season against Roberts Wesleyan, highlighted with a 209 in game 2 of the match.

Sunday, October 20  – Best 4 of 7 Baker Matches

Match 8 was a seeding Round where the 14^th seed Roberts Wesleyan faced the 15^th seeded Bears. Roberts Wesleyan was able to avenge the loss they suffered earlier in the day to Morgan State by prevailing 4-1.  

Match 9 saw Morgan State and Mercyhurst go the full seven games in the best-of-7 format, with Mercyhurst winning 4-3 with a close game #7 score of 204 to 184.

Diamond Hunter led all Baker scoring from the anchor position. Hunter had a Baker frame average of 20.57 for 42 frames.  She struck in the 10th frame 13 times in 22 attempts and led the team in filled frame percentage. 

"On Sunday these ladies performed very well in two aspects. First was our overall scoring being better than Saturday by 11 pins per game. Next, with Baker being a harder format, communication and support amongst a team is critical for a team. We communicated better and our support for each other was good all day. Diamond's performance today as our anchor was top tier. Now we'll get back to work to improve and get better each time out."

Up next for the Bears is the Virginia Union Invitational, November 1-3 at Bowl America Short Pump in Glen Allen, Va.