LEBANON, Ill. – The top-ranked McKendree University women's bowling team will look to defend its inaugural Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship this coming weekend (March 25-27) at the seven-team double-elimination 2022 GLVC Tournament hosted by Maryville University and held at Bowlero Lakeside in Valley Park, Mo.
 
McKendree comes into the 2022 GLVC Tournament fresh off a tournament title at this past weekend's Columbia 300 Music City Classic held in Smyrna, Tenn., and hosted by Vanderbilt University. The title at the Music City Classic was the program's third consecutive at the event.
 
The Bearcats are one of seven teams scheduled to compete in this weekend's second-ever GLVC Women's Bowling Tournament. In addition to McKendree, the other teams competing in Valley Park are 12th-ranked Maryville, 21st-ranked Lewis, 23rd-ranked Central Missouri, Drury, Quincy, and Upper Iowa University.

Based on the latest NCAA RPI rankings that were released on Wednesday, McKendree, who remains No. 1 in the latest RPI rankings, earns the No. 1 seed in the GLVC Tournament and earns a first-round bye. Maryville, who is 15th in the RPI rankings, is seeded No. 2, while Central Missouri, who is 21st in the RPI rankings, is the No. 3 seed. The fourth and fifth seeded teams are Lewis (No. 24 RPI) and Drury (No. 43 RPI) respectively. Quincy, who is 54th in the latest RPI rankings, earns the No. 6 seed, while Upper Iowa University is the seventh seed as they are 66th in the RPI rankings. 
 
At the tournament, the teams will feature the following format, which is known as a mega-match format (Best-of-three):
Match 1: Five-person team match
Match 2: Baker Total Pinfall
Match 3: Baker Best-of-Seven Match play (If necessary)
 
The Bearcats are the No. 1 seed and will earn a first-round bye and will face the winner of the first round match between No. 4 seeded Lewis and No. 5 seeded Drury on Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. The three first round matches on Friday begin at 8:30 a.m., with three more matches on Friday afternoon beginning at 1:30 p.m. On Saturday, there will be two matches each at 8:30 a..m. and 1:30 p.m., before one more match on Sunday at 8:30 a.m., before the championship match, which is set for 1:30 p.m. Since the tournament is double-elimination, if the team that is undefeated loses the first championship match at 1:30 p.m., a second championship match will be held beginning at 5:30 p.m. 
 
At last year's inaugural GLVC Tournament, which was held at Bel-Air Bowl in Belleville, Ill., the Bearcats defeated No. 3 seeded Central Missouri, 2-1, to claim the first-ever GLVC Women's Bowling title. The Bearcats went 3-0 at the double-elimination event.
 
The winner of the GLVC Tournament receives an automatic bid into the 2022 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championships. The tournament field for the NCAA Tournament will be announced online at www.NCAA.com on Thursday, March 31. The NCAA Regionals are scheduled for April 9-10 at one of four determined regional sites (Rochester, NY, Erie, Pa., Arlington, Texas and Lansing, Mich.), with the National Championships scheduled for April 15-16 at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl in Columbus, Ohio, and will be held by the Mid-American Conference and the Greater Columbus Sports Commission.

This year's GLVC Tournament will not have any COVID-19 restrictions inside the bowling alley, so spectators are welcome to attend this year's championships for the time after being prohibited last year due to strict COVID-19 protocols. Anyone looking to attend the championships, are asked to purchase tickets in advance at www.GLVCsports.com/tickets. The cost of admission is $12 for adults and $5 for students with ID and youth aged 6-17, while children 5 and under are admitted for free.   

Fans who are unable to attend in-person, will be able to watch live free coverage on GLVCSN, including video with audio commentary of lanes 7-8, along with video-only coverage of the secondary lanes on 11-12 and 15-16. John Edwards will provide play-by-play on the video coverage on lanes 5-6 and will be joined by Emil Williams from BowlTV, who will provide analysis and commentary throughout the tournament. 

Here is the schedule for the 2022 GLVC Women's Bowling Championship Tournament.

Friday, March 25
Match 1 - #4 Lewis vs. #5 Drury, 8:30 a.m. (Lanes 11-12)
Match 2 - #2 Maryville vs. #7 Upper Iowa, 8:30 a.m. (Lanes 7-8)
Match 3 - #3 Central Missouri vs. #6 Quincy, 8:30 a.m. (Lanes 15-16)
Match 4 - #1 McKendree vs. Winner of Match 1, 1:30 p.m. (Lanes 7-8)
Match 5 - Winner of Match 2 vs. Winner of Match 3, 1:30 p.m. (Lanes 11-12)
Match 6 - Loser Match 2 vs. Loser of Match 3, 1:30 p.m. (Lanes 15-16)
Saturday, March 26
Match 7 - Loser of Match 1 vs. Loser of Match 5, 8:30 a.m. (Lanes 7-8)
Match 8 - Winner of Match 6 vs. Loser of Match 4, 8:30 a.m. (Lanes 11-12)
Match 9 (Winners Bracket) - Winner of Match 4 vs. Winner of Match 5, 1:30 p.m. (Lanes 7-8)
Match 10 - Winner Match 7 vs. Winner of Match 8, 1:30 p.m. (Lanes 11-12)
Sunday, March 27
Match 11 - Winner of Match 10 vs. Loser of Match 9, 8:30 a.m. (Lanes 7-8)
Match 12 (Championship) - Winner of Match 9 vs. Winner of Match 11, 1:30 p.m. (Lanes 7-8)
Match 13 (If Necessary) - Winner of Match 9 vs. Winner of Match 11, 5:30 p.m. (Lanes 7-8)