Ladyjack Bowling Returns to Lone Star State for Prairie View A&M Invitational

Friday, February 1

Arlington, Texas

All Day

Stephen F. Austin

Prairie View A&M Invitational

Ladyjack Bowling Returns to Lone Star State for Prairie View A&M Invitational

1/31/2019 5:30:00 PM | Women's Bowling

SFA seeks second tournament win of season in Arlington, returns to competition after weekend off

By: Luke Bolanos | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

SFA Bowling Live Stream

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Nearly two weeks removed from winning its fourth tournament title in program history, the SFA bowling team will attempt to rekindle the fire this weekend at the Prairie View A&M Invitational in Arlington, Texas. The Ladyjacks are set to take on the three-day tournament (Friday-Sunday, Feb. 1-3) held at the United States Bowling Congress' (USBC) International Training and Research Center where they will compete amongst a 10 of the nation's top 11 teams.

A total of 12 programs will converge in Arlington for the 2019 Prairie View Invitational with every school that has claimed a NCAA bowling national championship present. With a new National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) Top 25 poll on the horizon next week, top-ranked McKendree, No. 2 Nebraska, third-ranked Vanderbilt, No. 4 Arkansas State, fifth-ranked Sam Houston State, No. 6 Tulane, seventh-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson, No. 8 Maryland-Eastern Shore, 10th-ranked SFA and No. 11 North Carolina A&T will all vie to shakeup the rankings. Host Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern will also be competing on the lanes.

The event will get underway Friday at 12:15 p.m. with five, five-game Baker matches for the first of two rounds of pool play. Saturday, five traditional team matches will start at 9:25 a.m., followed by a traditional match Sunday morning at 8:25 a.m. to wrap up pool play. A Prairie View A&M Invitational champion will be crowned Sunday afternoon after two best 4-of-7 bracket play Baker matches conclude the tournament. Seeding for Sunday's bracket play will be determined by team's pinfall total from the first 11 matches.

SFA at the Prairie View A&M Invitational
SFA will be making its ninth-straight appearance at the tournament, where the Ladyjacks' best finish came in 2016 (fourth). A year ago, SFA took home fifth place among 12 teams with a pinfall total of 13,425 and a 6-7 record. The Ladyjacks' performance at the tournament was highlighted by senior All-American Stephanie Schwartz' program record-tying 290 individual game in a traditional team match win over No. 25 Prairie View A&M.

Last Time on the Lanes
On Jan. 20, SFA captured its first tournament title since claiming the school's inaugural NCAA Division I era team national championship in April of 2016 by defeating fourth-ranked Arkansas State twice in bracket play Baker matches to take the 2019 Kutztown Invitational. The Ladyjacks went 11-1 over the weekend and finished first among a 28-team tournament field, claiming eight match wins over nationally-ranked opponents and tallying 12,785 total pins. Senior bowler Dakotah Hazlewood earned Kutztown Invitational MVP honors as she rolled a game of at least 214 in each of the five traditional team matches, finishing as the top individual bowler among 182 total competitors. She averaged a game score of 242.4, which was the highest average by a Ladyjack bowler in five traditional team games since Schwartz in 2017, knocked down 1,212 total pins and bowled a career-high game of 274 in SFA's win over tournament host and 25th-ranked Kutztown.

Up Next…
In action for three consecutive weekends, the Ladyjacks make their first trip to Florida since 2016 when they co-host the Sunshine State Winter Classic with Sacred Heart next weekend, Friday-Sunday, Feb. 8-10 in Orlando.

Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Ladyjack bowling throughout the winter and spring.

-SFA-