Bracket | Championship Central

NORFOLK, Va., March 18, 2019—The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) will host the 2019 MEAC Bowling Championship this Friday through Sunday, March 22-24, at the AMF Chesapeake Lanes in Chesapeake, Va.
 
Delaware State, Howard, Maryland Eastern Shore, Monmouth, North Carolina A&T State and UAB each advanced to this year’s tournament, with qualification determined by average pinfall in the two regular-season conference meets rather than conference win-loss record.
 
Maryland Eastern Shore, with the best average pinfall in league play at 184.05, will be the top seed, with North Carolina A&T State taking the No. 2 seed after averaging 183.47 pins in MEAC action. Delaware State (180.41), UAB (179.68), Monmouth (172.05) and Howard (169.52) round out seeds three through six.
 
North Carolina A&T State is the defending tournament champion, having defeated Maryland Eastern Shore 4-1 in 2018 for its first title since 2004 and its fifth overall.
 
Four MEAC teams are ranked in the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) Top 25 poll for March 2019, led by Maryland Eastern Shore at No. 7. North Carolina A&T State is No. 11, with Delaware State coming in at No. 13. UAB is No. 14, and Monmouth is among the schools receiving votes.
 
The double-elimination tournament begins on Friday at 9 a.m. with a pair of Mega Matches (a best-of-three format with a five-person team match followed by Baker total pinfall and then Baker best-of-seven) – pitting No. 3 Delaware State against No. 6 Howard, with the other matchup being No. 4 UAB against No. 5 Monmouth.
 
Friday will conclude at 2 p.m. with the winners of those two matches facing No. 1 Maryland Eastern Shore and No. 2 North Carolina A&T State, respectively.
 
Saturday will also see Mega Match action starting at 9 a.m. with the four losing teams from Friday squaring off in the bottom bracket. The winners of the morning matches will square off at 2 p.m., as will the winners of Friday afternoon’s matches.
 
Saturday’s winner from the top bracket will advance to Sunday’s championship final. The winner from the bottom bracket Saturday afternoon will compete on Sunday at 8 a.m. against Saturday afternoon’s losing team from the top bracket.
 
The winner of that match will advance to the championship match at 12 p.m. The championship final will rebroadcast on ESPNU on Sunday, March 31 at 9 p.m.
 
For the latest on MEAC bowling and other sponsored sports, log on to www.MEACsports.com.