| North Carolina A&T will be making its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Women’s Bowling Championship after being selected as a No. 8 seed. The Aggies were one of eight teams selected to join No. 1 seed Nebraska followed by Arkansas State University, Vanderbilt University, Sam Houston State University, Stephen F. Austin State University, McKendree University and the University of Central Missouri on April 14-16 in North Brunswick, New Jersey.
It has been a banner year for the Aggies bowling team. Their selection to the NCAA tournament means they have a chance to win not only one but two national championships. The Aggies qualified to defend their 2015 Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITC) national title March 12-13 by being one of the top four teams in their sectional.
The 16-team 2016 ITC will take place April 20-23 in Wichita, Kansas.
“The ladies have worked really hard this season,” said interim head coach Linda Grace. “We set a goal at the beginning of the year to play the toughest tournaments against the top teams, and we were going to do as well as we could through hard work, dedication, perseverance and belief in each other and the team. It all paid off today with our selection.”
N.C. A&T enters the NCAA tournament 79-38 overall. Their 79 wins are a school record, and they are in the midst of their third straight 70-win season. Competition begins with qualifying rounds in which each team bowls one 5-person regular team game against each of the other seven participating teams.
Teams will be seeded based on their win-loss record during the qualifying rounds. At the conclusion of the qualifying rounds, teams will then compete in the best-of-seven Baker matches in the double elimination tournament. In Baker format, each of the 5-team members, in order, bowls a complete frame until a complete (10-frame) game is bowled.
A Baker match tied at 3 ½ apiece after seven games will be decided by a tiebreaker using the Modified Baker format.
The Northeast Conference will host the championship at Brunswick Zone Carolier. Tickets can be purchased on NCAA.com prior to the championship. The championship final will air on ESPNU 6:30 p.m. EST, Saturday, April 16, and 6:30 p.m. EST, Saturday, April 17. A tape delay broadcast of the championship final will air on ESPN. |
