GLEN BURNIE, Md. – Eighth-ranked North Carolina A&T opened the first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference bowling meet of the season in third place Friday after going 4-0.
The Aggies recorded 4,807 total pins for an average of 192.3. Seventh-ranked Maryland Eastern Shore also went 4-0 and is in second place with 4,963 total pins for an average of 198.5 and No. 15 Delaware State went 4-0 and leads with 4,968 total pins for an average of 198.7.
With 11 teams in the MEAC, N.C. A&T started with a bye. Senior Mia Pope had the best score of the day for the Aggies by bowling a 256. Senior Tyra Merritt bowled a 197 and sophomore Ericka Quesada bowled a 148.
In the final two games, junior Ana Olaya recorded a 180 and junior Cameron Strombeck scored a 177 to give N.C. A&T a total score of 958. The Aggies defeated Florida A&M 937-898 winning four of the five games. N.C. A&T started with a win from Pope and sophomore Cristina Acosta, 170-168, followed by Merritt's win in the second game, 186-173.
Quesada dropped the third game, 159-129, but Olaya recorded the best score against FAMU with a 247-207 win and Strombeck won 205-191 in the final game.
The next two games were against ranked teams with No. 19 Alabama-Birmingham and No. 25 Monmouth.
Against UAB, the Aggies won 986-919 winning three games against the Blazers. Acosta won the first game 184-162 and Merritt recorded the highest score against the Blazers winning 254-191. Quesada lost in the third game, 189-176, but Olaya won 189-165 and Strombeck lost the final game 212-183.
N.C. A&T defeated Monmouth four times and won 954-872. Acosta won her second consecutive game with a 204-153 in the first game and Merritt stayed perfect on the day with a 195-167 win in the second game.
Quesada bounced back with a 220-187 win in the third game, but Olaya lost her first game of the day, 184-145, in the fourth game. Strombeck also bounced back with 190-181 win in the final game.
In the final match of the day, the Aggies defeated Morgan state 972-686 and won all five games. Acosta and Merritt both finished the day undefeated. Acosta won her game, 182-123 in the first game and Merritt won 206-130 in the second game.
Quesada won her second consecutive game with a 205-136, her second consecutive 200-plus game, while Olaya won 195-140 in the fourth game and Strombeck won 184-157 in the final game.
Saturday features the top-ranked MEAC teams in traditional games. The Aggies start with Norfolk State, followed by Howard, Delaware State, Coppin State and Maryland Eastern Shore.
