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Elmwood Park, NJ - There are no guarantees in Northeast Conference Bowling. 

Only once has the league’s regular season champion gone onto win the postseason NEC Tournament and it won’t happen again this year.

Top-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson suffered elimination only two matches into the 2013 Northeast Conference Bowling Championship, a two-day event that welcomed eight of the nation’s Top 20 teams to New Jersey’s Parkway Lanes.

For the first time in the five-year existence of the NEC Tournament, Fairleigh Dickinson will be forced to watch the action unfold on Championship Sunday, instead of being in the middle of it. 

Meanwhile, No. 6 seed Adelphi went a perfect 3-0 on Saturday to guarantee itself a spot in tomorrow’s title match and the No. 5 seed may be joining the Panthers in the final.

Saint Francis U, which is making its first-ever NEC Tournament appearance, will face No. 2 seed Kutztown in a semifinal round elimination match on Sunday morning.  The winner of the Keystone State clash will advance to face Adelphi with the event title on the line.

Kutztown earned its way into Sunday’s schedule by topping Sacred Heart, 4 to 1, in Saturday’s final match.  The Golden Bears squeaked by St. Francis Brooklyn, 4 to 3, in their Round 1 match before dropping a 4-2 decision to Adelphi in a Round 2 winners’ bracket bout.

“You remember Jim Valvano, right?” said Kutztown head coach Joe Ambrose. “Well, survive and advance, that is what we just did today.”

The tournament’s first day was only half complete, but the bracket was already standing upside down.

Not only had the No. 8 seed opened the event by knocking off No. 1 FDU, but the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds sprinted out to a 2-0 start.

The results, however, were hardly surprising to Ambrose.

“Zero. Zip. Nothing. That is what the seeds mean in this tournament.  There isn’t much separating any of us here,” said the man who won the inaugural NEC Coach of the Year award in 2009.





Despite being the No. 1 seed by virtue of its NEC-best 19-8 regular season record, Fairleigh Dickinson didn’t exactly draw a lightweight for its Round 1 opponent. The Knights faced No. 8 seed Sacred Heart, which happens to be the defending NEC Tournament champion and holds the No. 12 ranking in America.

In a Round 1 match that mirrored the 2012 NEC title bout, Fairleigh Dickinson fell into an 0-3 hole against Sacred Heart before rallying. The Knights pulled even at 3 games apiece, but the Pioneers took the deciding Game 7 to hold on for the best-of-seven baker victory.

Sacred Heart dropped its Round 2 match to Saint Francis U, but bounced back for a 4-2 win in a Round 3 elimination bout against St. Francis Brooklyn.

In Round 4, the Pioneers cracked the 200-pin mark only once against Kutztown and will not be around to defend their title on Sunday as a result.

“If you’re not executing, you’re going to get beat,” said Sacred Heart head coach Becky Kregling.  “The parity is college bowling so great nowadays that you can’t just play mediocre and get by.”

Sacred Heart’s elimination means the first-ever repeat champion in NEC Tournament history won’t come this year. 

In fact, 2013 marks the first season that neither SHU nor FDU will capture the conference crown.  Fairleigh Dickinson won the inaugural one in 2009 and the two programs have alternated titles since.

Fairleigh Dickinson faced North Jersey rival New Jersey City in a Round 2 elimination match on Saturday, and again found itself facing an early deficit.  The Knights were down 3-1, but managed to pull even at 3.5 to 3.5 and force a tie-breaking modified baker roll-off.

FDU failed to fill the first frame of the tiebreaker, giving NJCU an edge.  Fittingly, however, the match came down to one final shot. After striking to begin the 10th frame, NEC Bowler of the Year Danielle McEwan had the opportunity to put FDU over the top by throwing another strike.  Fairleigh Dickinson’s anchor bowler, however, left three pins standings and New Jersey City secured the victory. 

McEwan entered the baker roll-off with a hot hand.  The four-time all-NEC first team selection struck out in the 10th frame of Games 5, 6, and 7, allowing the Knights to force the five-frame tiebreaker.

When Adelphi puts its 3-0 mark on the line tomorrow, it won’t be the first time that the No. 6 seed has contest the NEC Tournament final.  In 2010, then-No. 5 Fairleigh Dickinson and No. 6 Sacred Heart clashed for the conference crown with the latter prevailing in a modified baker roll-off tiebreaker.  Despite falling in the title match, FDU went onto win the 2010 NCAA Championship crown.

Action will begin at 9:05 am on Sunday, March 24 and fans can follow it live by logging onto www.necfrontrow.com.  All Championship Sunday matches will air on NEC Front Row with Paul Dottino and Kenny Yakobosky on the call.