UMES BOWLING STARTS TODAY AT NATION'S BIGGEST TOURNAMENT G. STAN BRADLEY 01/27/12 Frahm and the Lady Hawks look to make a statement in a tough field. READING, Pa.-For the third straight year Kutztown University will host the largest NCAA bowling tournament in the nation and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) will be there once again, looking to make a statement. In just her second meet as the interim head coach, Kristina Frahm will have her Hawks ready to bowl, hoping to best the 28-team field that features 16 of the nation's top-20 teams, according to the latest National Tenpins Coaches (NTCA) Association poll. The event starts today at 11 a.m. with quad baker games and continues at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday with traditional team games. Kutztown divided the field into four brackets of seven teams and arranged them 1-28 by win/loss percentage. UMES is in Group A and has the fourth best win percentage with a 52-17 mark. They have the second most wins in the event but give way to No. 2 Fairleigh Dickinson (FDU) at 55-12, No. 3 Sacred Heart at 37-9 and No. 13 Norfolk State who is 47-14. UMES opens up day one bowling in their group, taking on Norfolk State, No. 1 Valparaiso, No. 6 and rival Vanderbilt, FDU, Sacred Heart and Saint Peter's. Total pins determine a new seeding for Saturday's match schedule. Sunday is a best four-of- seven baker match position round bracket starting at 8:30 a.m. "I think we can do well," said Frahm. "We have been working hard, especially on spares and I feel we are ready to go prove ourselves as the defending National Champions."