LEBANON, Ill. – The back-to-back Great Lakes Valley Conference Champion McKendree University women's bowling team earned the overall No. 1 seed in the 2022 NCAA National Collegiate Bowling Championships as announced by the NCAA late Wednesday afternoon.
With its No. 1 seed, the Bearcats will begin play in the 2022 NCAA Bowling Championships at the Erie, Pa., Regional as they will open the double-elimination regional tournament on April 8 at 8 a.m. Central against Bowie State, who earned an automatic bid to the tournament after winning the championship in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The other teams selected to the Erie Regional were No. 11 ranked Mount St. Mary's and Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference champion Medaille. The Erie Regional matches will be held at Rolling Meadow Lanes.
The winning team from each of the four regional sites – Erie, Pa., Rochester, NY, Lansing, Mich., and Arlington, Texas - will advance to compete in the 2022 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship final, which is scheduled for April 15-16 at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl in Columbus, Ohio.
McKendree will be making its sixth all-time appearance in the NCAA Bowling Championships this season as the Bearcats won the 2017 national championship and were national runners-up in 2018. The Bearcats are 11-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and are one of four teams in this year's field that competed in the 2021 Championships that was won by the University of Nebraska.
Joining McKendree in this year's NCAA Tournament will be No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Sam Houston State, No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 5 North Carolina A&T, No. 6 Arkansas State, No. 7 Louisiana Tech, No. 8 Stephen F. Austin, No. 9 Youngstown State, No. 11 Mount St. Mary's, No. 13 Fairleigh Dickinson, No. 16 Sacred Heart, Medaille, Wilmington, Bowie State and Alabama State.
McKendree finished the regular season with an 86-25 record and they won nearly 78 percent of all its match-ups and took tournament titles at the Stormin' Blue & White Vegas Classic, the Columbia 300 Saints Invitational and the Columbia 300 Music City Classic. Additionally, the Bearcats were the runners-up at the Bearcat Hammer Open, the MOTIV Ladyjack Hammer Open, the Northeast Classic and the Big Red Invitational.
Seven Bearcats are averaging over 200 on the season, highlighted by junior
Rebecca Hagerman (Loves Park, Ill./Harlem) leading the way with a 210.69 average in 48 games and totaled 10,113 pins. In addition to Hagerman, junior
Maranda Pattison (Redwood Valley, Calif./Ukiah Independent) has an average of 210.49 in 41 games and 8,630 pins and senior
Hope Gramly (Prosper, Texas/Propser), who repeated as the GLVC Women's Bowler of the Year, recorded an average of 208.19 in 52 games and 10,826 pins.
The Regional round will be held on April 8-9 at four predetermined sites with four teams in each region. The regional tournament will be a double elimination format as the teams will play a mega-match format consisting of a five-person team match, a five-game Baker total pin fall and a best-of-seven Baker match play. The best-of-seven match play is if necessary and the winning team needs to win two of the three events in the mega-match.
Regional Match-ups
Region 1 @Erie, Pa.
No. 1 seed McKendree
Bowie State
Mount St. Mary's
Medaille
Region 2 @Rochester, NY
No. 2 Nebraska
Wilmington
Fairleigh-Dickinson
Sacred Heart
Region 3 @Lansing, Mich.
No. 3 Vanderbilt
Alabama State
Arkansas State
Youngstown State
Region 4 @Arlington, Texas
No. 4 Sam Houston State
Stephen F. Austin
Louisiana Tech
North Carolina A&T
