NEW CASTLE, Del. -- Kutztown University women's bowling was unable to sustain its hot start to the season, Friday, dropping five Baker format matches and sliding into ninth in the overall standings at the Wildcat DII/DIII Invitational hosted by Wilmington (Del.) at Bowlerama.

The Golden Bears had an opportunity to face off with multiple teams situated directly around them in the NTCA DII/DIII Preseason Poll, and although three matches were decided by 29 pins or less, and another by just 42, KU came out of the wrong side each time.

Caldwell, No. 8 in the DII/DIII Poll, outlasted No. 7 KU 838-796 in the opening match for both teams. Kutztown failed to crack 200 as a team in any of its two matches, as the Caldwell defeat compounded into an 819-790 setback at the hands of Mercyhurst.

Kutztown (16-8) finished strong against No. 9 Molloy with a 210 in game three and a 225 in game five, but a 232-165 win in game four was enough for the Lions to hold on for a 952-930 decision.

Unfortunately, the Bears ran into red-hot Wilmington on a day the hosts exceeded 950 pins in four of their five matches. The Wildcats supplied 200+ scores in three of five games to cruise 971-817.

KU's final match came against Medaille, whom it beat twice head-to-head (once in a tiebreaker), but finished second on total pinfall to at last weekend's Redhawks Fall Rally. The Golden Bears won game one 185-178, but Medaille, the No. 12 team in the DII/DIII Poll, edged KU in each of the next three games before both teams closed out the match with duplicate 200s.

The Golden Bears will look to turn around their weekend with five traditional matches on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.