PERRY HALL, Md. (Feb. 17, 2012) – On the first day at the Morgan State Invitational, the Saint Francis University bowling team picked up three wins in its five games of action.

"We had a very solid day of baker and will be able to plan and improve upon this tomorrow,” head coach Tom Falbo said. “Two tough matches to lose against top ten teams today. We actually held the match lead in the fifth frame of the last game against Central Missouri and the match took a sudden and dramatic turn. Against Nebraska, it was anyone's match going into the last game. It is these situations where we must find our poise and close out these matches, and we will."

In the opening match, the Red Flash battled hard with No. 6 Central Missouri but fell late and lost the match 728-823. SFU rebounded for two wins in its next two matches, defeating Bethune Cookman 772-642 and Elmhurst 757-672. In the fourth match of the afternoon, Saint Francis ran into No. 8 Nebraska and dropped a tight match with the Cornhuskers 697-729. The Flash ended day one on a high note though, downing Howard 779-689.

Sophomore Marissa Matassa (Plum, Pa./Plum Senior) led the team with an 18.73 baker frame average over 40 completed frames. Freshman Lindsay Corner (Drexel Hill, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) also completed over 40 frames compiled an 18.63 baker frame average. Christina Leid (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) and her 19.92 baker frame average were accumulated over 37 completed frames.

Heidi Baumert (Lincoln, Neb./Pius X) completed over 32 frames and racked up an 18.09 baker frame average. Lauren Johnson (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southeast) comes in behind her with 31 completed frames and a 17.39 baker frame average. Briana Ord (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) and Annie Beliles (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) both completed over seven frames and bowled 17.57 and 20.00 baker frame averages, respectively.

Saint Francis continues the Morgan State Invitational tomorrow with traditional games against Florida A&M, No. 13 Delaware State, No. 1 Fairleigh Dickinson, North Carolina Central and Hampton.