WOMEN'S BRACKET
(DAYTON, Ohio, April 19)—For the third consecutive year, the McKendree University women's bowling team will have an opportunity to bowl for an Intercollegiate Team Championship title.
The top-seeded Bearcats won two more matches on Friday – including another seven-game thriller against No. 16 seed Delaware State University – to reach the finals on Saturday. McKendree will take on No. 14 seed Robert Morris University in the championship match Saturday at 11 a.m. ET (10 a.m. CT) inside Poelking Lanes South in Dayton, Ohio.
McKendree won its first Intercollegiate Team Championship title by winning the 2017 event, then finished second last year.
In its first match of the day on Friday, McKendree squared off against fourth-seeded Stephen F. Austin State University in a rematch of second-round match in last week's NCAA National Collegiate Bowling Championship. The Bearcats were defeated by the Ladyjacks in their previous meeting at the NCAA event, but McKendree was able to exact a measure of revenge by rolling past Stephen F. Austin in five games Friday afternoon.
The Bearcats opened with a 228-143 triumph and built a 2-0 lead in the match before the Ladyjacks answered with a 20-pin win in game three. McKendree then closed the match with identical victories of 224-213 to remain undefeated in the tournament.
McKendree then awaited the winner of an elimination match between Stephen F. Austin and Delaware State. In a match that went five games, Delaware State knocked out Stephen F. Austin to earn a rematch against McKendree. The Hornets went the distance against the Bearcats in the opening round of bracket play Thursday before McKendree registered a 4-3 win.
Delaware State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in Friday night's contest before McKendree with wins of 172-140 and 164-146 to square things at 2-2. A 187-154 triumph in game five put the Bearcats on the brink of victory before the Hornets answered by clawing past McKendree 180-178 in the sixth game to force a decisive seventh contest. The Bearcats once again held off the challenge from Delaware State, posting a 186-168 win to advance to Saturday's finals.
