4/10/10 'F-D-who? F-D-U!'

Such was the chant that went up all night Saturday for the Fairleigh Dickinson University women's bowling team at the NCAA finals in North Brunswick. The Knights knocked off defending National Champ Nebraska, 4 games to 3, in what some openly referred to as the best title match in the 7-year history of the event. Only one other tournament final went the full seven (Vanderbilt over Maryland-Eastern Shore in 2007), and NJBB didn't exist back then, so The Messenger his ownself has no basis for comparison. But there were so many intriguing story lines in this one — well, for us Jersey folk, anyway — that the best way for TM to break it all down is in his tried-and-true stream of consciousness method (hey, that's what blogs are for).

'What time is it? Knight time!': Ironically, the FDU faithful used that chant for the semifinals against host New Jersey City University on Friday, where both teams shared the nickname 'Knights.' And then, TM didn't hear it so much on Saturday. Regardless, there were a number of moments on the evening where it just flat out seemed like it was FDU's time. Nebraska was hurt by a pair of 7th-frame splits in the first two games (4-6-7-10 and 4-7-9), while the Knights rolled a clean Game 1 to win, 209-167, and overcame a 1-2-10 split to take a lead late in Game 2 before the Cornhuskers rallied with a four-bagger (hambone!) to win, 222-202.

Things seemed to be tipping Nebraska's way in Game 3, when they sent in red-shirt freshman Kristina Mickelson to bowl for Jasmine Laugerman, who ostensibly was not 100 percent and had her knee taped up. I guess it's just a good weekend to be named Mickelson (Phil is near the top of The Masters leaderboard as I type), because her first nine rolls were all strikes. The Huskers won 2 of the next 3 to push FDU to the brink of elimination, but here's where things got wacky.

They had a cooler full of water set up in the pit for the bowlers, which was good because frankly the TV lights were what The Messenger can only call "face-melting." After Game 5, some of the tournament staff went to restock the cooler, and either one of the water bottles leaked or some condensation dripped onto the floor of the pit, but it happened on Nebraska's side and a couple of the Huskers got water on their shoes (that was the point at which tournament committee member and Adelphi head coach Robert Cincotta gave TM the "Watergate" quip). That caused a bit of a delay, and the Nebraska girls were justifiably annoyed, but it honestly seemed like they shook it off pretty well because both teams ended up with 3 spares and 1 strike in the first 4 frames of Game 6.

But again, things just seemed to go FDU's way down the stretch. True freshman Danielle McEwan (much more on her to come), senior Erica Perez (the Knights' anchor) and junior Tracy Ganjoin (the leadoff lefty) strung 3 strikes together (turkey!) for a 20-point FDU lead after 7. Nebraska junior Danielle van der Meer was left with a 4-pin bucket in the 8th but still managed to fill the frame... then junior Katie Ann Sopp, who just bowled splendidly all night, wound up with a 3-10 split and you could sense the momentum shifting. FDU soph Joely Carrillo (who returned to the starting lineup after an up-and-down Friday), McEwan and Perez then dished out one more helping of turkey, and we were on to Game 7.

Now, *this* was where The Messenger knew something was up. With Nebraska down 10 through 4 frames, senior anchor Cassandra Leuthold — the reigning NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player, a soon-to-be four-time All-American and more or less the face of NCAA women's bowling (she was on the program cover, and deservedly so) — became the second player in the entire match to miss a single-pin spare. Never mind that these two teams combined to cover 41-of-43 single-pin spares, which is a PBA-like percentage... this was the equivalent of Michael Jordan missing a game-winner, or a pre-scandal Tiger Woods rimming out a Green Jacket-clinching putt; it's almost unheard of. Yet, in the unlikely event that it ever happens, the only possible explanation (at least in TM's eyes) is that some force greater than all of us is at work.

If any more evidence was needed, Sopp ended up with a 7-10 split in the 9th. The Knights finished up with a clean 209, and the Cinderella story was complete. If the Butler men's basketball team was destined to go to its first-ever Final Four in its home city of Indianapolis, then Fairleigh Dickinson was simply destined to win its second NCAA women's bowling championship right here in the Garden State.

POINTS OF ORDER: Regular readers of the NJBB may remember that The Messenger pointed out in his 2010 Bergen County Girls Tournament recap (under the "All-NJTCC final" subhead) the importance of having your leadoff bowler strike in Baker games. Well, Ganjoin, a member of the 2004 AND 2005 State champion Brick Township Green Dragons, led off 3 of the Knights' 4 victories with a strike. We'll have to make her a retroactive member of the Johnny Petraglia All-Stars... FDU junior Sara Litteral, who left no pin standing on the evening, clearly made the right choice by coming to FDU all the way from Chesterfield, Mich. Her hometown is located 32 miles north of Detroit — and guess where the 2011 NCAA women's bowling finals will be held? Detroit. Think she might be excited to try for a repeat?... Ok, let's not get ahead of ourselves. There are 8 Jersey Girls on FDU who are still basking in this year's title, including Carrillo, a two-time Record North Jersey Bowler of the Year at Paramus Catholic. The last time TM interviewed her at Carolier, there were some tears after she finished 3rd in the State individual finals. This time, the tears were of the much happier variety... As for McEwan — all she did as a freshman was win the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award after averaging 204 in qualifying and posting FDU's highest strike percentage in the tournament Baker games. TM was struck by her veteran composure; she either wasn't nervous or didn't know that freshman are typically "supposed to be" nervous on the big stage. And yet, she may not even be the Knights' top candidate to become a based-on-a-true-story move star... Perez spent her entire 4-year high school career at Carteret bowling in Carolier Lanes. She threw the final ball of the first-ever NCAA tournament held at Carolier, made the All-Tournament team, and her school won the National Championship. And darn if she didn't sum it all up perfectly in the post-match presser: "It was the perfect ending to a dream come true."

TM has plenty more to say, but he will post it later... those parting words are too good to bury with his blabber. Oops! Sorry, let's put them back where they belong:

"It was the perfect ending to a dream come true."
— FDU senior Erica Perez, 4/10/10

******************************************
NCAA Women's Bowling Tournament: Championship Match

SCHOOL	BAKER 1	BAKER 2	BAKER 3	BAKER 4
5) Fairleigh Dickinson	209	202	203	229
1) Nebraska	167	222	213	192
SCHOOL	BAKER 5	BAKER 6	BAKER 7	GMS WON
5) Fairleigh Dickinson	201	230	209	4
1) Nebraska	222	190	174	3

All-Tournament Team

• Cassandra Leuthold, Sr. (Nebraska)
• Jenn Marmo, Sr. (NJCU)
• Danielle McEwan, Fr. (FDU) *MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER
• Erica Perez, Sr. (FDU)
  
• Samantha Santoro, Soph. (Arkansas State)
  

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