UMES Selected To Compete for the 2013 National Collegiate Women’s Bowling Championship

The eight-team field competing for the 2013 National Collegiate Women’s Bowling Championship was announced Wednesday by the NCAA Women’s Bowling Committee.

UMES, the two-time defending NCAA champions, earned its 10^th consecutive bid. They won the title in 2008, 2011 & 2012 and were runners-up in 2007.

A year ago, the Lady Hawks defeated Fairleigh Dickinson in six games, winning the final game 203-176. With the victory, Maryland Eastern Shore became the first team since 2004-05 to win back-to-back national titles.

The Lady Hawks captured their sixth MEAC title last Sunday and are currently ranked third in the latest National Tenpins Coaches Association (NTCA) coaches poll and second in the NTCA media poll.  UMES has posted a 110-21 overall record and were 27-3 in MEAC play this season.

Competition begins with qualifying rounds in which each team bowls one five-person regular team game against each of the other seven teams participating in the championship for a total of seven games.

Teams will be seeded for bracket play based on their win-loss record during the qualifying rounds. Teams will then compete in best-of-seven-games Baker matches in a double elimination tournament. In the Baker format, each of the five team members, in order, bowls a complete frame until a complete (10-frame) game is bowled. A Baker match tied 3½ games to 3½ games after seven games will be decided by a tiebreaker using the Modified Baker format.

The University of Detroit Mercy and the Detroit Sports Commission will host the championship, which will be held April 11-13 at Super Bowl Lanes in Canton, Michigan. Tickets can be purchased on www.NCAA.com prior to the championship.

The championship finals will air on ESPNU Saturday, April 13 at 8 p.m. ET. A tape delay broadcast of the championship finals will air on ESPN Sunday, April 14 from 2 – 3:30 p.m. ET.