Delaware State has reached the semifinals of the 2009 NCAA Women’s Bowling Championship. Despite a 4-games-to-2 loss to No. 1 seed Nebraska in their final match today, the seventh-seeded Hornets are one of four teams remaining in the race for the national championship. DSU is competing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in team history.
Delaware State and Nebraska will square off in a rematch in one semifinal, while No. 2 Fairleigh Dickinson and No. 6 Central Missouri will battle in the other semifinal on Saturday beginning at 5:00 p.m. The winners will compete for the national championship on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. The championship match will be televised live on ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN360. A re-broadcast is scheduled for Sunday (Apr. 12) on ESPN from 3:00 ? 4:30 p.m.
Earlier today, the Hornets defeated overcame a 3-games-to-1 deficit to defeat New Jersey City University 4-3, then won the last four games of the match to upend Central Missouri 4-1.
The NCAA Tournament wins are the first for any Delaware State University team in school history.
In the loss to Nebraska this evening, the Hornets led 2-games-to-1, but dropped the last three.
Delaware State took the opening game 196-169. Delaware State trailed 77-68 after four frames, but recorded marks in each of the last six frames, including four strikes, to pull away. Jazmyne Hefflefinger had strikes on each of her two throws.
The Cornhuskers bounced back to squeak out a 177-175 win in game two. Nebraska threw strikes in four of the first five frames, but only led 104-90. The Hornets pulled to within three pins after nine frames (158-155), but could only cut one pin off the lead in the 10th.
Delaware State regained the lead 2-games-to-1 after a 200-149 victory in game three. The opened the game with strikes by Brooke Peterson, Hefflefinger and Adriana Jaime and never looked back. The Huskers could not recover after failing to mark in two of the first four frames.
Nebraska evened the match at 2-2 with a 223-197 victory in game four. The Huskers rolled three consecutive strikes on two occasions in the contest.
A dominating performance in game five gave Nebraska a 3-2 lead in the match. After falling behind 29-9 after the first frame, the Cornhuskers threw eight consecutive strikes en route to the 246-189 win.
Nebraska took the match with a 191-171 victory in game six.
“The champion of this tournament will have certainly earned it,” said Delaware State head coach Kim Terrell-Kearney, the 2008-09 National Tenpins Coaches Association and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. “The competition is extremely tough, but we are right where we want to be. Each team is in the same position, so our chances are as good as everyone else.”