WILMINGTON, DEL. – The trophy case on Main Street has expanded once again.

After going 4-1 on Saturday, Daemen women's bowling knocked off both host Wilmington and New Jersey City before edging Caldwell in the championship match, 4-3, in what were best-of-7 Baker format matches to complete the Wildcat DII Invitational Sunday afternoon. The three-day event this weekend was hosted by Wilmington University with all 10 teams competing at Bowlerama in New Castle, Del.

By taking home the hardware this afternoon, Daemen women's bowling have now won consecutive tournaments in their spring 2022 session after they won the Brother Patrick Lacey Memorial Tournament hosted by St. Vincent College on Feb. 13.

After suffering a seven-pin loss when the two teams met in a traditionally scored format Saturday, Daemen bounced back and defeated host Wilmington in the opening round, 4-0. Daemen defeated Wilmington by scores of 228-217, 247-177, 215-206 and 179-174.

Daemen then advanced to the second round and faced New Jersey City, who had lost to Chestnut Hill earlier in the day in the opening round. Once again, the Wildcats knocked off their foes in consecutive matches, 4-0. Daemen defeated New Jersey City by scores of 209-192, 207-157, 205-163 and 224-141. The victory placed the blue-and-white in the championship round against Caldwell, who advanced after victories against both Mercyhurst and Wilmington through the first two matches.

After Daemen won the opening match, 245-212, Caldwell countered and won the second match, 268-219. The Cougars then defeated the Wildcats by just two pins, 221-219, for the 2-1 series lead. Daemen responded, however, in the fourth match and out rolled Caldwell by a score of 224-203 to tie the series at 2-2.

The fifth match ended in a tie, 224-224, and the Cougars then secured a 243-196 game in the sixth match. Daemen, however, regrouped in the seventh and final match, 257-160, and forced a five-frame roll off with the championship on the line. Behind four strikes as a unit, Daemen won this sudden death roll off, 118-76, to win the invitational and conclude their weekend stay in the Diamond State.

Graduate student Alex Hasiotis (Rochester, N.Y.), sophomore Mollie Gizicki (Brighton, Mich.), senior Christina Aldridge (Webster, N.Y.), junior Paige Bartosz (West Seneca, N.Y.) and junior Caitlyn Nowak (West Seneca, N.Y.) all competed in Daemen's three matches today.

Bartosz was also named to the Wildcat DII Invitational All-Tournament team. She finished fifth among  all individual competitors in total pin fall by knocking down a team-high 1,051 pins in Saturday's traditionally scored portion. Bartosz also knocked down a team-high 210.2 pins per match on the second day.
Since the season resumed on Feb. 12, Daemen has won 16 of their last 22 matches and are 36-28 overall this season.

The Wildcats will next participate in the Medaille Invitational this upcoming weekend (Feb. 26-27) in Buffalo, NY. Time for first roll will be announced at a later date.
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.

Follow the Daemen College women's bowling program on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @DaemenBowling.