NCAA Bowling Preview
4/11/2011 11:47:00 AM | Women's Bowling
Since the championships began in 2004, the Kats are the first inaugural program to make the tournament. In fact, Sam Houston and Kutztown are the only two teams among the eight making their first appearances in the championships.
Each of the other six squads have long histories in the event. Three squads - Nebraska, Central Missouri and Maryland-Eastern Shore - have participated in each of the past seven NCAA championships.
The University of Nebraska won the initial NCAA women's bowling title in Houston in 2004 and have repeated as national champions in 2005 and 2009. Nebraska brings a 65-19 overall record into the tournament. The Cornhuskers' team leader is Danielle van deer Meer.
Maryland-Eastern Shore won the 2008 national title and was national runner-up in 2007. UMES is ranked No. 2 in the nation this year with a 98-30 overall match record. Maria Rodriguez is one of three seniors returning from the 2008 national championship team.
Central Missouri, ranked No. 3 this season with a 66-27 overall record, was the runner-up in both of the first two NCAA tournaments in 2004 and 2005. Natalie Jimenez is the Jennies' top bowler.
Defending champion and No. 1 ranked Fairleigh Dickinson is the pre-tournament favorite to repeat as national champions. FDU owns a 103-19 overall match record this year and has won five tournament titles during the regular season. Danielle McEwan, voted "Most Outstanding Bowler" in last year's event, returns to lead the team. FDU also won the 2006 NCAA title.
Last year's championships came down to the wire between Nebraska and Fairleigh Dickinson, who battled for the title in Saturday's televised finals. The Huskers came up just short, earning a runner-up spot. Nebraska fell 4-3 to the Knights in one of the closest finals in NCAA history.
Vanderbilt is making its sixth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament. Vandy won the 2007 championship and sports an 81-39 overall record this season. Brittni Hamilton, the Bowling Writers of America "Female Amateur Bowler of the Year" leads a strong squad that won two tournament titles this year.
Arkansas State, ranked seventh nationally this year, is making its third NCAA appearance. Arkansas State was NCAA runner-up in 2008.
Kutztown earned its first NCAA berth this year with a 97-33 record. A third-year program, KU is led by Samantha Santoro.
Sam Houston has at least one victory over each of the seven other teams in the field at Detroit. The Bearkats' records against the other seven teams are Vanderbilt 3-3, Nebraska 2-1, Maryland-Eastern Shore 2-3, Central Missouri 2-3, Arkansas State 2-3, Fairleigh Dickinson 1-2 and Kutztown 1-3.
"We're approaching the NCAA championships just as we have every other tournament this year," Sam Houston head coach Brad Hagen said. "We've competed well with all these teams during the regular season. We're looking forward to the experience."
NCAA competition begins with qualifying rounds in which each team will bowl one five-person regular team game against each of the other seven teams participating in the championship for a total of seven games. Teams will be seeded for bracket play based on their win-loss record during the qualifying rounds.
Teams will then compete in best-of-seven-games Baker matches in a double-elimination tournament. In the Baker format, each of the five team members, in order, bowls a complete frame until a complete (10-frame) game is bowled. A Baker match tied 3½ games to 3½ games after seven games will be decided by a tiebreaker using the Modified Baker format.
This year's NCAA Championships will run from April 14-16 and take place at Skore Lanes in Taylor, Michigan, just miles from downtown Detroit. Tickets are available through NCAA.com or the Skore Lanes box office at (313) 291-6220.
All matches will be available live on NCAA.com. The NCAA Championship match will air Sunday, April 17 on ESPN. The finals will air on tape delay at 1:30 p.m. central.
