March 23, 2017
Vanderbilt competes in the third annual Southland Bowling League Championship this weekend at the Hijinx Lanes in Jonesboro, Ark.
Tournament details: The SBL is a double elimination tournament using a best of three match format:
Match 1: Five-person team match
Match 2: Baker Total Pinfall
Match 3: Baker Best of Seven Match play (If teams split first two matches)
Action begins on Friday at 8 a.m. (CDT) with the opening four matches, followed by the second round at 1 p.m. for the opening match winners. The first round of the consolation bracket for the opening round losing teams will also take place at this time. The championship match will take place Sunday at 9:00 a.m.
Vanderbilt’s status: The fifth-ranked Commodores are the tourney’s No. 3 seed (behind Arkansas State and Sam Houston) and ahead of fourth seed Stephen F. Austin. Other seeds are Monmouth (5), Tulane (6), Valparaiso (7) and Louisiana Tech (8).
First match: Vandy will face Tulane Friday at 8:00 a.m. to open play. The winner will play the winner of the Sam Houston-Valparaiso match.
Tournament admission: There will be a $15 cost for an all-session ticket (3 sessions) or $10 for a single session.
Championship web site: Southland.org has an excellent link to the tournament bracket, scores and other information. For those wanting complete information this is the place to be.
Follow from afar: InsideBowling.com will livestream the tournament and Vanderbilt’s Cube streaming site will cover all matches not covered by Inside Bowling.
A powerful league: Arkansas State is the defending champion and is ranked third nationally. Stephen F. Austin is the defending national champion and both Vanderbilt and Sam Houston have won national titles in the past.
Inaugural champions: Vanderbilt won the original SBL championship two years ago.
No automatic qualification: The NCAA does not take automatic qualifiers from conference tournaments. The championship field will be announced by the NCAA Committee next Wednesday. The NCAA Championship will have an 8-team field at the River Center in Baton Rouge, La., April 13-15 and hosted by Tulane.