The Defending NCAA Champion Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks and Delaware State Hornets were selected as part of the eight-team field that will compete for the 2009 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship as announced today by the NCAA Women's Bowling Committee. 

The Detroit Metro Sports Commission and the University of Detroit Mercy will host the championship, which will be held April 9-11, 2009 at Super Bowl Lanes in Canton, Michigan. 

Maryland Eastern Shore defeated Arkansas State University, 4-2, to capture the 2008 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship at Thunder Alley in Omaha, Nebraska.  The win marked Maryland-Eastern Shore’s and the MEAC’s first women's bowling national championship and first NCAA national title in any sport in the institution's history. 

The victory also made Lady Hawks' head coach Sharon Brummell the first woman and first African-American to lead a team to the title since the NCAA established the championship in 2004.

Maryland Eastern Shore is currently 115-39 overall. There selection marks the sixth straight appearance dating back to the inaugural event in 2004.

Only Nebraska, New Jersey City, Central Missouri and the Hawks have been to all five past National Championships. UMES finished seventh its first three years in the event but then took runner-up honors to Vanderbilt in 2007 before winning the title in 2008.

The Lady Hornets, who are ranked fourth in the latest National Tenpins Coaches Association poll, captured their first MEAC Championship last week and will be making their first appearance in the NCAA Championship.

Delaware State has posted an overall record of 117-36 this season. The Lady Hornets have also claimed the ECAC Championship, and also earned first-place finishes in the Kutztown Invitational and Arkansas State Mid-Winter Invitational, which included wins over No. 1 Vanderbilt and No. 2 Nebraska.

The field includes the following teams, all selected at large:

Arkansas State University
University of Central Missouri
Delaware State University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
New Jersey City University
Vanderbilt University