Junior two-time All-American and Gothic Knight anchor VICKI SPRATFORD (Hopelawn, NJ/Woodbridge) is the NJCU Women's Athlete of the Week for the fifth time in the last two years, after she was named Most Valuable Player and to the All-Tournament Team at the Jeannette Lee Invitational on November 24-25.
Spratford led NJCU to its second second-place tournament performance in as many weeks, while the Knights (25-5), ranked No. 6 in Division I, II, and III, went 8-2 in NCAA matches, including 5-0 in Baker matches. The Knights are now 10-0 in Baker matches this season—the format under which the NCAA national title is decided. NJCU matched the 2004-05 club for best start to a season after 30 matches. The Final Four teams of 2005-06 and 2003-04 were 23-7 and 21-9, respectively, after 30 matches.
Spratford, who was the only kegler in the 33-woman field to average over 200, posted a 206.4 average and 1032 pinfall, easily outdistancing fellow All-American Tina Peak of the University of Central Missouri for first place by 41 pins. Spratford, who won a tournament for the fourth time in her career and placed in the Top 5 for an eighth time, had high games of 238 and 225 (190, 225, 211, 238, 168).
On the season, Spratford leads the club in average (201.81), pinfall (5247), games (40), 200 games (12), 225 games (8) and high game (269).
