COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 1 seeded and top-ranked McKendree University women's bowling will look to take home its second national championship and first since 2017 here this weekend as the Bearcats are one of four teams competing at the 2022 National Collegiate Bowling Championships Final Four at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl.
 
The Bearcats, who claimed the 2017 NCAA National Championship and were the National Runners-up in 2018, will open play in the double-elimination Final Four at 8 a.m. Central on Friday, April 15 against eighth-ranked and Arlington Regional winner Stephen F. Austin. The other match-up at the Final Four on Friday at 8 a.m. Central will pair Rochester Regional winner Fairleigh Dickinson facing No. 2 seeded and fourth-ranked Vanderbilt, who was the champion of the Lansing Regional.
 
McKendree, who practiced on Thursday morning at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl, earned its trip to this year's Final Four of the NCAA Women's Bowling Championships following its 4-2 win in a best-of-seven Baker match format against Mount St. Mary's at last weekend's Erie, Pa., Regional held at Rolling Meadow Lanes. At the Erie Regional, the Bearcats posted a 3-1 record as they lost 2-0 in the championship final mega-match to Mount St. Mary's, before defeating the Mountaineers in the best-of-7 Baker. 
 
All matches (except the national championship match) of the NCAA Final Four will be live streamed on NCAA.com, except for the championship match on Saturday, April 16 at 7 p.m. CT, which will be broadcast live on television on ESPNU. 
 
Tickets are $40 for all sessions. Fans can get $5 off online tickets with the promo code TURKEYTIME at checkout for online tickets only through Thursday.
 
The Bearcats, who are the two-time reigning Great Lakes Valley Conference champions in women's bowling, are making its sixth all-time appearance in the NCAA Bowling Championships this season and enter this weekend's Final Four sporting a 14-8 record all-time in the NCAA Tournament and is the only repeat team from last season competing in this year's Final Four. Nebraska won the 2021 national title, but the No. 2 seeded and No. 2 ranked Huskers were defeated in the Rochester Regional final mega-match by Fairleigh Dickinson.
 
All matches at the National Collegiate Championships Final Four, except for the national championship match, will feature a mega-match format consisting of a five-person traditional game, a five-game Baker total pinfall and if necessary, a best-of-seven Baker match play. The best-of-seven match play is only needed if the teams are tied after the five-game Baker total pinfall as the winning team needs to win two of the three events the mega-match event to win the match. The national championship final will feature just a best-of-seven Baker format to determine the national champion.
 
McKendree brings a 2021-22 match record of 89-26 record in the NCAA Championships Final Four. The Bearcats won nearly 77 percent of its matches during the season and won three in-season tournaments - Stormin' Blue & White Vegas Classic hosted by Mount St. Mary's, the Columbia 300 Saints Invitational hosted by Maryville University, and the Columbia 300 Music City Classic hosted by Vanderbilt University – along with winning both the GLVC Championships and the Erie NCAA Regional. 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.
 
During the 2021-22 season, the Bearcats posted an 11-5 record against the other three teams competing in this year's Final Four as McKendree went 2-0 against FDU, 4-2 against Stephen F. Austin and 5-3 against Vanderbilt.
 
Seven Bearcats are averaging over 200 on the season, highlighted by senior All-American and two-time GLVC Player of the Year Hope Gramly (Prosper, Texas/Prosper) leading the way with a 211.7 average in 1,114 frames. In addition to Gramly, junior Rebecca Hagerman (Loves Park, Ill./Harlem) is second on the team with a 210.8 average in 1,069 frames and junior Maranda Pattison (Redwood Valley, Calif./Ukiah Independent) has an average of 208.7 in 822 frames.
 
Gramly, Hagerman, and Pattison all earned NTCA All-Central Region honors on Wednesday as Gramly repeated a first team selection, while Hagerman was a second team selection and Pattison was an honorable mention honoree.
 
At last season's NCAA Championships, which was held in Kansas City, Mo., the Bearcats went 4-3 as they won the regional championship with a 3-1 record but went 1-2 in the Final Four as they opened the Final Four with a 2-0 win over Arkansas State, before falling 2-1 in the second round to eventual national champion Nebraska and then suffered a 2-0 loss to Arkansas State. The Red Wolves would later fall 4-1 in the championship match to Nebraska.
 
The four teams competing in this year's National Championships Final Four have won a combined seven national championships as FDU, SFA and Vanderbilt have each won two titles and McKendree has won one title. In addition, the four teams have posted a combined all-time NCAA Tournament record of 83-56 record and have made a combined 39 all-time appearances in the NCAA Bowling Championships.