Friday, February 2
Arlington, Texas
Stephen F. Austin
at
Prairie View A&M Invitational
Ladyjack Bowling Competes in Arlington at Prairie View A&M Invitational
2/1/2018 7:06:00 PM | Women's Bowling
SFA bowls in third tournament of spring championship season, takes on loaded tournament field with eight of the nation’s top-10 teams
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The seventh-ranked Stephen F. Austin bowling team will be competing at the Prairie View A&M Invitational over the weekend among a tournament field that contains eight of the top 10 teams in the nation. The event, which is held at the Bowling International Training & Research Center in Arlington, Texas, Friday-Sunday, Feb. 2-4, features each of the nation's top five teams. In fact, each of the 12 teams competing at the ITRC this weekend is ranked in the latest National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) top-25 poll.
Every NCAA bowling national champion since the inaugural NCAA bowling championship took place in 2004 will take part in the highly competitive Prairie View A&M Invitational.
Top-ranked Nebraska, defending national champion and second-ranked McKendree University, No. 3 Arkansas State, No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Sam Houston State, No. 8 Maryland-Eastern Shore, No. 10 Fairleigh Dickinson, No. 12 Sacred Heart, No. 17 North Carolina A&T, No. 19 Louisiana Tech, and 25th-ranked and tournament host Prairie View A&M will all be in action along with the Ladyjacks. SFA is one of five Southland Bowling League teams competing in Arlington, joining Arkansas State, Vanderbilt, Sam Houston State and Louisiana Tech.
The three-day, 13-match event will get underway Friday at 12:15 p.m. with five, five-game Baker matches. Saturday's pool play will be highlighted by five traditional team matches starting at 9:25 a.m. One traditional team match will be bowled at 8:25 a.m. Sunday morning as the final match of pool play, before bracket play begins at 9:50 a.m. Bracket play will consist of two best 4-of-7 Baker matches with seeding determined by each teams' pinfall total from the first 11 matches of the tournament.
It will be the Ladyjacks' seventh consecutive Prairie View A&M Invitational after placing eighth out of 12 teams in 2017. SFA turned in a tournament-best team finish of fourth two years ago in 2016, posting a record of 8-4 in the 11-team field.
After placing seventh in their first two tournaments of 2018 and owning three consecutive seventh-place finishes dating back to November, the Ladyjacks are seeking their first top-five finish of the year. Most recently SFA placed seventh among 27 total teams at the Kutztown Invite in Reading, Pennsylvania, two weeks ago. The top-10 finish made it 49-straight tournaments the Ladyjacks have placed in the top 10 dating back to February 2013. SFA went an impressive 11-2 at the event and ended the Kutztown Invite with six consecutive victories, including four wins over ranked opponents.
Junior Paige Beeney (Salado, Texas) has been impressive as of late, bowling a 265 in a win over Duquesne University at the Kutztown Invite and leading the Ladyjacks in traditional team play at Arkansas State's Mid-Winter Invitational with a 199.4 game average. The 265 game was a career-high for Beeney and was the third-highest individual game by any SFA bowler this season, ranking among the top-20 best individual games in program history. Three-time NTCA First-Team All-American Stephanie Schwartz led the Ladyjacks once again at the Kutztown Invite, finishing 18th among 171 total bowlers in individual play with a 212 average. The Racine, Wisconsin, native bowled three games of over 200 in traditional team play and knocked down 1,060 pins.
SFA's play at the Prairie View A&M Invitational can be viewed live via the team's Facebook page here.
Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Ladyjack bowling throughout this winter and spring.
-SFA-
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Bowling
/ Women's Bowling
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