NEW CASTLE, Del. -- Kutztown University women's bowling closed out Friday's opening day of the Wilmington-hosted Wildcat DII Invitational with three consecutive victories, including a thrilling 920-910 win over the hosts.

The Golden Bears, ranked 15th in the latest National Tenpin Coaches Association DII/DIII Poll, produced a 214 in their second Baker format game of the day against Chestnut Hill, but the Griffins put forth a stellar effort throughout with three 200+ games to take the match 1003-865.

Kutztown then got a shot at the nation's 14th ranked team in Mercyhurst (No. 4 in the DII/DIII Poll). Ally Sipe (York, Pa./Central York), Meghan Ripley (Bel Air, Md./Fallston), Sydney Snyder (Morrisville, Pa./Conwell-Egan Catholic), Megan Hanaway (Forked River, N.J./Lacey Township) and Chloe Sromovski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) were up to the task with a 202 in game one, a 195 in game three and a 233 to close it out in game five. Unfortunately, the Lakers sent KU (32-26) to its second loss of the tournament, 975-970, on the strength of a 252 in game four.

The Bears would not be denied against Saint Thomas Aquinas, however. Kutztown claimed all five games en route to an 839-659 victory and backed it up with a hard-fought 808-798 win over Molloy.

In a battle of two top 15 programs in the DII/DIII Poll, head coach Angela Reynolds kept her lineup in tact from the previous two wins and it paid off. KU surpassed 190 in its opening and closing games and used some late heroics from Hanaway, who moved to anchor and struck out to give the Maroon and Gold a 920-910 win over 12th-ranked Wilmington.

Kutztown holds fifth in the team standings after knocking down 4,402 pins for a 176.1 average, but the standings are tight heading into Saturday's action. Mercyhurst leads at 4,594 (183.8), with Wilmington second at 4,498 (179.9), Chestnut Hill third at 4,421 (176.8) and Daemen fourth at 4,406 (176.2).

The Golden Bears will start with an open round tomorrow at 9:10 a.m., before facing Daemen, Caldwell, D'Youville and Holy Family in traditional format play. The tournament lasts through the remainder of the weekend with best-of-seven bracket play slated for Sunday.