March 28, 2018
The NCAA Women’s Bowling Committee has selected Vanderbilt to participate in the 2018 NCAA Bowling Championship April 12-14 at the Tropicana Lanes in St. Louis. The berth in the championship field marks the 13th consecutive year the Commodores have earned an invitation.
The Commodores are the No. 4 seed in the tournament. Others receiving invitations are top-seeded Nebraska, second seed McKendree, No 3 seed Arkansas State, fifth-seeded Sam Houston State and No. 6 seed North Carolina A&T. The non-seeded teams were Saint Francis University, Lincoln Memorial, Texas Southern and Bowie.
This year marks a new selection format. In prior years, eight teams were selected based upon their season’s performance. This year, the committee selected 10 teams – six automatic qualifying champions from qualified conferences, and four at-large teams. Teams were seeded based on available selection criteria, with the top six being placed in the championship bracket. The remaining four teams will meet in opening round matches to determine the final two teams that will compete in the championship.
Those play-in games will occur April 6 with Texas Southern at Lincoln Memorial and Bowie at Saint Francis.
“We worked all year for the opportunity to compete for a national championship,” said Coach John Williamson. “Every year it becomes more difficult to be selected as the number of quality programs expands. There were some very good teams that didn’t hear their names called. It’s an honor and we will prepare well for the chance to represent Vanderbilt in St. Louis.”
The fourth-ranked Commodores, 89-43 on the season, feature a roster dominated by underclassmen. At the recent Southland Bowling League championship Vanderbilt did not have a senior on its travel team, although senior Katie Stark was sidelined with the flu.
Among its season highlights are a championship at Monmouth’s Hawk Flight, a 300 Baker game at the Kutztown Invitational , five different Commodores making various all-tournament teams and individual titles won by Kristin Quah and Maria Bulanova.
Quah is a veteran of two NCAA championships. The biomedical and electrical engineering double major says the team didn’t take anything for granted.
“It’s definitely exciting that we’ve made the championships,” she notes. “With the new format this year, there was definitely more pressure through the regular season with only four spots open to non- conference champions and how stacked our conference is didn’t help either. It’s also kind of bittersweet, because I have really enjoyed this year and this is the last opportunity that we get to compete together with this specific group of girls.”
Quah has an opinion on the secret to success at the Big Dance.
“Going into the tournament, we are working very hard on being able to perform, knowing that something is on the line. At nationals, it really is anyone’s game. The team that is able to be themselves and have fun while competing usually comes out on top and that’s what we’re striving for.”
Bulanova is looking forward to another memorable experience.
“I remember last year’s tournament was very exciting,” she says. “We got to bowl in a very good facility, that was very cool and I think that will be hard to top. This will be the biggest tournament of the year and we have much work to do.”
The St. Louis Sports Commission and the University of Central Missouri are serving as hosts for the championship. McKendree is the defending national champion. Vanderbilt was third a year ago and won the championship in 2007.
