VICKI SPRATFORD is the NJCU Women's Athlete of the Week for the fourth time this season after winning the inaugural North East Women’s Collegiate Bowling Conference singles championship tournament on March 31. The Gothic Knight anchor defeated two athletes from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Overall, Spratford had an 11-game pinfall of 2481 (225.55 average).
To become the first-ever NEWCBC conference champion, Spratford, the No. 2 overall seed after nine qualifying games of the championship tournament, defeated FDU freshman and top-seeded Kristy Kerr in the finals, 234-225. In the step-ladder semifinal match, she cruised past third-seeded senior Lindsay Frusciante of FDU, 236-194.
The championship match went right down to the 10th frame. After Spratford left a 2-5 pin combination, she needed to convert the spare and follow with two pins on her last ball. She did convert the spare, and rolled a strike on her final shot for good measure.
“Winning the NEWCBC singles tournament validates all of my hard work that I've put into my bowling career,” said Spratford. “I am taking this as momentum going into nationals. During the stepladder semifinals and finals I was thinking that this is nationals, and ultimately it worked to my benefit.”
All six NJCU team members qualified for the 32-individual tournament and Spratford was one of four Gothic Knights to make the initial cut after four games of qualifying to advance to the round of 16 after she placed seventh with games of 226-256-201-182.
The final 16 then bowled five more qualifying games with the top three advancing to the step-ladder semifinals. She tallied games of 236-201-243-245-221 in the second portion of qualifying.
In nine qualifying games she had a 2011 total (223.44) and received 290 bonus pins based on head-to-head victories to finish just six pins behind Kerr for first place, 2307-2301.
