VALLEY PARK, Mo. – For the second consecutive season, McKendree University is top women's bowling team in the Great Lakes Valley Conference as the Bearcats claimed its second straight GLVC Championship here Sunday afternoon following a 2-0 win in the mega-match format over No. 3 seeded and 23rd-ranked Central Missouri in the championship match of the GLVC Women's Bowling Tournament at Bowlero Lakeside Lanes.
With Sunday's victory, the No. 1 ranked and top-seeded Bearcats earn the GLVC's automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Women's Collegiate Bowling Championships, which are scheduled to begin at four pre-determined regional sites (Rochester, NY, Erie, Pa., Arlington, Texas and Lansing, Mich.) on April 8-9, with the National Championships slated for April 15-16 at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl in Columbus, Ohio. The NCAA will unveil the 16 teams selected for the NCAA Tournament online at
www.NCAA.com at 4 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, March 30.
The Bearcats, who won the 2017 NCAA National title in women's bowling and were the national runners-up in 2018, will be making their sixth trip to the NCAA Tournament this season as they are 11-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
McKendree's GLVC title is its second consecutive and its fourth overall league title for the program as the Bearcats won the championship in the MIAA in both 2018 and 2019, while the GLVC Tournament in 2020 was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It is always fun to be able to work hard and work hard all season and see all that hard work pay off," McKendree head women's bowling coach
Shannon O'Keefe said following her team's win. "What was great about this weekend's tournament was the format mirrors how we'll compete at the NCAA championship level with the mega-matches. Kudos to the GLVC and Jim (Commissioner Naumovich) for making sure our conference is set-up to prepare us for that. I don't want to say it was a trail run, our opponents are tough. Maryville is tough, Central Missouri is tough, but it shows us that it takes a lot of patience and time in these mega-matches to be successful."
With Sunday's win over Central Missouri, the Bearcats improved to 6-0 all-time in the GLVC Tournament and are now 4-1 against the Jennies in conference tournament championship matches as UCM defeated the Bearcats in the finals of the MIAA Tournament in 2017, but the Bearcats have won four straight matches over UCM in conference tournament finals since that loss in 2017.
McKendree started Sunday's championship match with Central Missouri with a 110-pin win of 1,021-911 in the traditional game. In the traditional game, fifth-year senior
Isabella Correa Sarmiento (Cali, Colombia/Colegio Leonistico La Merced), who was inserted into the line-up for Sunday's matches, led the way with a 225, while sophomore
Isabel Allen (Tamworth, England/Polesworth High) tossed a 223 and the third 200-plus game was recorded by senior
Hope Gramly (Prosper, Texas/Prosper), who repeated as this year's GLVC Player of the Year, recorded three straight strikes in the 10th frame to finish with a 208.
After winning the traditional game of the mega-match, the two teams played a five-game total pinfall Baker format set as the Bearcats would win the Baker format by 111 pins as they defeated UCM, 1,094-983.
In the Baker format, the Bearcats won four of the five games as they earned a 44-pin win in the opening game as McKendree won 225-181, before winning the second game, 232-211. The Bearcats would put the match out of reach in the third Baker game as they collected a 221-187 win to push their total pinfall to 99 pins at 678-579.
UCM, though, would respond by picking up a 190-181 win in the fourth Baker game, before McKendree capped the win with a 235-214 win in the fifth and final Baker game. The win was sealed by junior
Rebecca Hagerman (Loves Park, Ill./Harlem) bowling two strikes in the 10th and final frame.
Here are the results from the 2022 GLVC Women's Bowling Championships.
Friday, March 25
Match 1: #4 Lewis def. #5 Drury, 2-0
Match 2: #2 Maryville def. #7 Upper Iowa, 2-0
Match 3: #3 Central Missouri def. #6 Quincy, 2-0
Match 4: #1 McKendree def. No. 4 Lewis, 2-0
Match 5: #2 Maryville def. No. 3 Central Missouri, 2-0
Match 6: #6 Quincy def. #7 Upper Iowa, 2-0
(Upper Iowa eliminated)
Saturday, March 26
Match 7: #3 Central Missouri def. #5 Drury, 2-1
Match 8: #4 Lewis def. #6 Quincy, 2-0
Match 9 (Winners Bracket semifinal): #1 McKendree def. #2 Maryville, 2-0
Match 10
(Elimination Round semifinal): #3 Central Missouri def. #4 Lewis, 2-1
Sunday, March 27
Match 11: #3 Central Missouri def. #2 Maryville, 2-0
Match 12 (Championship): #1 McKendree def. #3 Central Missouri, 2-0
