ERIE, Pa. - The Daemen College women's bowling team opened its 2021-22 season today with opening day action of the Grapevine Classic hosted by Penn State Behrend. The two-day event is taking place at Eastland Bowl and features seven schools, Daemen, Walsh University, Roberts Wesleyan College, Mercyhurst University, Penn State Behrend, D'Youville College, La Roche University.

Today's action began with a total pin "blind round" and was followed by four traditional scoring matches.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Daemen finished fourth during the total pin "blind round", but the Wildcats put up solid scores during the traditional matches and will enter day two in second place with 4,366 total pins and a 174.6 average. Mercyhurst went undefeated (5-0) during its traditional matches and stands in first place in total pins with 4,515 and an average of 180.6. The Wildcats are followed closely by East Coast Conference rivals Roberts Wesleyan (4,316) and D'Youville (4,008).
• The Wildcats opened the traditional scoring portion of the day with back-to-back losses to Mercyhurst (1,036—888) and Walsh (814—793), before rebounding with wins over La Roche (886–727) and rival Roberts Wesleyan (1001—896).
• Junior Caitlyn Nowak (West Seneca, N.Y.) and transfer Mollie Gizicki (Brighton, Mich.) turned in solid efforts for the Wildcats today.
• Nowak posted the third best individual pin total (923) out of 48 bowlers. Her 214 during the win over Roberts Wesleyan was the highest score by a Daemen bowler today and she also rolled a 191 during the win over La Roche.
• Gizicki, a sophomore who spent her freshman season at Adrian College, rolled a team-best 196 in the loss to Mercyhurst and posted a 210 in the win over Roberts Wesleyan. Her pin total of 914 ranked as the fourth highest among all bowlers today.
• Junior Paige Bartosz (West Seneca, N.Y.) also finished among the top-10 bowlers today. She bowled a team-high 198 during the win over La Roche and finished with a total pin fall of 867—good enough for tenth place among the individual leaders.
• Graduate student Alex Hasiotis (Rochester, N.Y.) and senior Christina Aldridge (Webster, N.Y.) also finished among the top-15 bowlers today.
• Hasiotis rolled a 213—just one pin shy of Nowak's team best 214—during the win over Roberts Wesleyan and finished 13th on the individual leader board with a pin total of 837.
• Aldridge posted a 195 in the win over La Roche and a 190 in the win over Roberts Wesleyan. She finished 14th on the leader board with a pin total of 825.

UP NEXT

Day two gets underway tomorrow (Oct. 10) at 9 a.m. The schedule can be found here.


Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 18 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

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