ALTOONA, Pa. (Feb. 4, 2012) – The Saint Francis University bowling team hosted Northeast Conference No. 2 at Holiday Bowl in Altoona and walked away with two wins on day one.

Format for this weekend's event is two days of quint baker matches where total pinfall determines the winning team. Matches from the two-day event this weekend help to determine NEC records that will ultimately seed the NEC Championship set for the end of March.

"Our ladies competed really well and for the third time in the last two weeks we averaged over 200 for a match and couldn't snag the win,” head coach Tom Falbo said. “That's the sport and credit to our opponents. Today was our best spare shooting day ever. There's always room for improvement, but I was pleased with our day."

Saturday the 14^th-ranked Red Flash (43-34, 6-8 NEC) earned wins over No. 16 Monmouth and No. 17 Saint Peter's. In the opening match, SFU got the day off to a solid start by defeating the Hawks of MU 933-841 and looked to put up big scores such as that the rest of the afternoon.

Moving onto the second match, the Flash had a back and forth struggle against No. 15 Kutztown that came down to the last few frames. KU had just a 16 pin lead heading into the fifth game of the match and did what they needed to do to pick up the win over the Red Flash. The Golden Bears threw a 190 in the final game, compared to the 178 thrown by SFU, to give them the 929-901 victory.

Saint Francis got back on the winning track in the mid-mark of the afternoon with its take down of Saint Peter's955-864. Against the Peacocks, the Flash threw three of five games at 200 of better. Onto the fourth match with No. 10 New Jersey City, the Gothic Knights got the better of SFU 979-863.

Despite rolling its best game of the event in the final game of the final match on Saturday, a 241, it would not be enough to top the 264 bowled by No. 20 St. Francis (NY). The Terriers escaped with a 1,099-1,009 win which put SFU's record on the day to 2-3.

Freshman Christina Leid (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) led the day for the Red Flash with a strong 21.74 baker frame average.

“We got strong play out of all of our players,” Falbo said. “Christina led the way with great shooting today.”

Saint Francis continues NEC No. 2 tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. in Altoona where they will face No. 2 Fairleigh Dickinson, No. 3 Sacred Heart, LIU Brooklyn and No. 19 Adelphi.