Results

BALTIMORE, Md. (Oct. 18, 2021)-This past weekend, the Morgan State Lady Bears began the 2021-22 campaign, traveling to Struthers, Ohio to compete in the MOTIV Penguin Classic hosted by Youngstown State University at Holiday Bowl. Morgan State finished the weekend placing sixth out of 10 teams.
 
Highlights of the weekend:
• Morgan State taking down #3 Arkansas State in decisive fashion in 5-game Baker in the first match of the day on Friday.
 
• Three Lady Bears placed in the top 20 in the entire field for traditional play.
 
Friday's 5-game Baker Total Pinfall Matches:
Match 1
Morgan State 1081, #3 Arkansas State 877

Match 2
Morgan State 921, Mercyhurst 865
 
Match 3
Morgan State 978, Saint Francis (PA) 811     
 
Match 4
Morgan State 878, #11Duquesne 931                                                                                         
 
Match 5
Morgan State 851, Lewis 913
                                   
On Friday in the 5 game Baker Total Pinfall format, the Bears started out on fire taking down #3 Arkansas State Red Wolves. ASU just came off a 2020-21 season in the National Championship final match on ESPN in April of 2021. Morgan State started out red hot with games of 235 and 248 to build a154 pin lead after two games. After four games, the Lady Bears enjoyed an 844 to 710 lead heading into game #5. Morgan State turned on afterburners with a 227 to the Red Wolves 167 to take a 1071 – 877 victory.
 
There were standout performances by two Lady Bears in match #1. Aliya Adams (Jr./Hyattsville, Md.) struck in nine out of the 10 possible Baker frames, and Natalia Miranda Vega (Sr./Bogota, Colombia), struck in all 10 frames as the leadoff bowler for the Bears against Arkansas State.
 
Morgan State proceeded to beat their next two opponents by filling frames and finding a hot strike line at key points in the match against both Mercyhurst and Saint Francis (Pa.). It was a clutch 209 in Game 5 which was the difference in the Mercyhurst match to seal the win. Against SFU, in games 2, 3 & 4 the Bears shot a 191-233-222 which made the difference in their 978 – 811 win against the Red Flash. In their final two matches of the day, their losses against both Duquesne and Lewis saw their opponents make the decisive line play adjustments to get two wins against the Bears.
 
Saturday's Traditional Game Matches:
Match 6
Morgan State 888, Arkansas State 1,005
 
Match 7
Morgan State 925, Youngstown State 1,062                                                                                                  
 
Match 8
Morgan State 1,005, Valparaiso 878                                         
 
Match 9
Morgan State 902, Walsh 902                                                                                             
Tie-Breaker: Morgan 83, Walsh 77                                                               
 
Match 10
Morgan State 918, Medaille 897
 
On Saturday, the Bears secured three more wins against, Valparaiso, Walsh and Medaille. Their losses were the first two matches of the day against #3 Arkansas State and #7 Youngstown State.
 
Three Morgan State bowlers finished in the top 20 in the field for traditional games bowled.
In her first tournament as a Lady Bear, Cheyenne Washington (So./Pontiac, Mich.) led all team scoring with a 192.8 average and finished 17^th in the entire tournament field of players. Her teammate, La'Monique Berrios (Jr./Frediksted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands) finished in 18^th place with a 190 average. Ashanti Fernandes (Jr./Harker Heights, Texas) finished strong in 20^th place overall with a 187 average. Coming in strong off the bench was freshman Carrington Beaman (Fr./Detroit, Mich.) who averaged 190 for four completed games bowled.  

Morgan State also saw a great contribution from Naomi Smith (Fr./Southfield, Mich.) coming off the bench and averaging 17.79 for 58 Baker frames and 182.5 for 12 traditional frames bowled. She converted a wide-open split (3-6-7-10) in a key moment in a match against Lewis to force the outcome of the match to the final frames.

Both Miranda Vega and Adams led the team in Baker frame average. Miranda Vega posted a 20.13 for 82 frames bowled and Adams averaged a strong 19.88 for 42 frames bowled.
 
With a total pinfall of 9,337 and a team average of 186.7, Morgan State was in 5^th position heading into Sunday's Bracket Round of Baker Best 4 of 7 matches.
 
Sunday's Bracket Round – Baker Best 4 of 7 Matches:
On Sunday, the Best 4 of 7 Baker Round had the Bears, faced off against the 6th seed, Mercyhurst. The Bears went down 0-3 to Mercyhurst. But Morgan State fought back winning the next four consecutive games to claim a 4-3 come-from-behind victory. The Lady Bears rattled off games of 176-190-200-227 to get the first round win.
 
In the final two matches of the day, the Bears came up short in both losing to Lewis 0-4 and Valparaiso 1-4 to finish the weekend with a 7-6 record, finishing in sixth-place in the tournament.
 
Coach Thomas Falbo was pleased with this young Morgan State team's first weekend. "We sent a shockwave right out of the gate which was no surprise to me based on their inherent physical talent and what they displayed in a fantastic pre-season," said Falbo. "They got two wins this weekend overcoming adversity in prevailing in a tie-breaker match against Walsh on Saturday and coming back from an 0-3 deficit on Sunday to win 4-3 against Mercyhurst."
 
"We will work to get comfortable with playing transition as the oil on the outside part of the lane dries up and gets erratic. They have great power, so once they are able gain confidence getting it to the breakpoint from a deeper inside line more comfortably, scoring will improve. It was a solid first outing, and we'll grow much from this tournament."  

Morgan State will return to the lanes Oct. 29-31, when it travels to Richmond, Va. to compete in the Virginia Union Invitational, hosted by Virginia Union University.

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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution offering more than 100 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.