On A Mission In Tennessee
3/13/2012 9:47:00 AM | Women's Bowling
Last spring, the Bearkats became the first inaugural women's program to earn a berth in the NCAA Division I championships. Sam Houston needs to finish with a strong showing at the final regular season tournament of the year to make a statement to the NCAA selection committee.
The No. 9-ranked Kats will have plenty of opportunities in this weekend's Columbia 300 Music City Classic hosted by Vanderbilt at the Smyrna Bowling Center in Smyrna, Tenn.
Fourteen top 20 ranked teams are featured among the 20 universities in the field of the tournament which begins Friday. Included in the field are No. 1 Fairleigh Dickinson, No. 2 Sacred Heart, No. 1 Valparaiso, No. 4 Arkansas State, No. 6 Central Missouri, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 10 Stephen F. Austin, No. 12 New Jersey City, No. 14 Kutztown, No. 15 Wisconsin-Whitewater, No. 16 Adelphi and No. 18 Monmouth.
Sam Houston enters the tournament with a 69-30 overall match record. The Bearkats are 37-20 against ranked teams this season including victories over all but one of the teams in the top 10.
The Bearkats won a dual match with Grambling last weekend in Huntsville and took a dual match win from SFA to start the season in October.
In tournament play, Sam Houston won the Track Kat Klash in Huntsville in December, finished third at the ECAC tournament, the Greater Ozark Invitational and the New Jersey Jamboree, fourth in the Nebraska Big Red event, sixth at Arkansas State and seventh at the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawk Classic.
"What we wanted to do was use last weekend with Grambling to get our ducks in a row," Sam Houston head coach Brad Hagen said. "Hopefully, we can use it as a momentum boost and to get focused for this weekend because it is big for us. We either take care of business and move on or something happens and we don't. It's real simple."
The NCAA Women's Bowling Championship will be held April 12-14 in Cleveland. Major factors in NCAA selection are strength of schedule, won-loss percentage and high level victories.
With a strong showing in Tennessee, the team will add to an already impressive record this season.
Sam Houston State has played all but one of the top 20 teams at least once and has 18 victories over teams rated in the top 10.
The Columbia 300 Music City Classic begins Friday with six team quad Baker format matches. On Saturday, the Bearkats will play six five-person team matches. With seeding based on results from the first two days' action, the tournament championship will be decided Sunday with best-of-seven Baker bracket play.
