HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, NJ - Tenth-ranked Duquesne went 0-2 in finishing fourth at the NEC Championship over the weekend.

The Dukes, who entered the event as the No. 3 seed, fell to second-seeded Mount St. Mary's, 2-1, in Thursday's opening round mega match before dropping a 2-1 decision to fifth seed LIU in the first elimination match on Friday morning.

The Mount outscored the Dukes 1129-1084 in the traditional match, despite the fact that all five DU bowlers rolled a 200 or better: Kiearra Saldi (202), Ranelle Ulanday (227), Jessica Cadez (233), Shannon Small (210) and Olivia Farwell (212).

The fivesome of Saldi, Ulanday, Cadez, Small and Farwell rallied to take a 95-pin lead after two games and increased the advantage to 176 after three, in cruising to a 1138-938 win in the quint baker round.

The two exchanged wins in the best-of-7 round, before Mount St. Mary's took a 3-2 lead with a 267-257 win in game five. The two scores were the highest posted by any team in day one baker play. MSM took game six, 213-202, to advance.

Duquesne faced No. 5 seed LIU in a Friday morning elimination match and came out strong defeating the Sharks 1209-1065 in the traditional round. Farwell (278) and Cadez (256) rolled season highs and Ulanday (258) finished with seven-straight strikes to help the Dukes to a school-record traditional pin total.

DU was up 75 pins through the first two baker games, only to see LIU turn it around to take a 23-pin advantage into game five. The Sharks went on to maintain that margin to put the Dukes away, 1106-1080.

The Dukes fell behind 3-0 in the best-of-7 baker round before stringing together seven-straight strikes to take game four 248-202. Farwell struck three times in the 10th frame of game five to put the pressure on LIU, which matched Farwell with three strikes of their own to take a 214-213 win and eliminate DU.

Duquesne, which was ranked 12th in the Mar. 22 NCAA RPI, will now await its fate for the 2022 NCAA Championship. The 2022 field will be announced on NCAA.com on March 30 at 4:00 p.m. ET.

The 2022 NCAA Championship is scheduled for April 15-16 at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl in Columbus, Ohio. NCAA Regionals get underway on April 8-9.


THURSDAY VS. MOUNT ST. MARY'S

Traditional
MSM 1129, DUQ 1084
Saldi 202, Ulanday 227, Cadez 233, Small 210, Farwell 212

Baker
DUQ 1138, MSM 938
206-166, 256-201, 248-167, 202-190, 226-214

Best-of-7
MSM 4, DUQ 2
214-231 (L), 213-147 (W), 192-213 (L), 226-162 (W), 257-267 (L), 202-213


FRIDAY VS. LIU
elimination match

Traditional
DUQ 1209*, LIU 1065
Saldi 192, Ulanday 258, Cadez 256, Small 225, Farwell 278
* - school record traditional pin total

Baker
LIU 1106, DUQ 1080
247-240, 255-187, 178-232, 180-224, 220-223

Best-of-7
LIU 4, DUQ 1
187-212 (L), 202-278 (L), 147-226 (L), 248-202 (W), 213-214 (L)