Ladyjacks Go for Second National Championship in Eight Days

ISC Women's Bracket | ITC Schedule | ITC Central
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DAYTON, Ohio – After claiming the school's second NCAA Division I team national title and capturing the program's second national championship in the last four years this past Saturday, the SFA bowling team has a chance to win its second national tournament in eight days this weekend. The Ladyjacks are set for the United States Bowling Congress' (USBC) 2019 Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITC) in Dayton, Ohio, held Thursday-Saturday, April 18-20 at the Poelking Lanes South.

The ITC brings together the top 16 women's and top 16 men's teams in the country to compete for national titles and outside of the NCAA Bowling Championship, the ITC is the pinnacle event of the collegiate bowling season.

SFA qualified for the 16-team championship field back in March at the ITC Smyrna sectional in Smyrna, Tennessee, securing its eighth-straight appearance at the USBC's collegiate national championship tournament after earning runner-up honors among 16 total teams. The Ladyjacks came a mere five pins from taking home the section title by tallying a pinfall total of 12,497 in 64 Baker games across two days.

The three-day ITC will get started Thursday, April 18 with 24 qualifying Baker games to determine seeding for double-elimination bracket play. Qualifying will get underway at 7:30 a.m. CST, before round one of match play starts at 3 p.m. CST Thursday followed by round two at 5 p.m. CST. Friday, April 19, rounds three and four will be played in the morning beginning at 6:45 a.m. CST. Rounds 5-7, in addition to an if necessary eighth round, will take place Friday afternoon with matches at 12 p.m., 2 p.m., 4:15 p.m. and if necessary, 6:15 p.m. CST. A national champion will be crowned Saturday, April 20 with the 2019 ITC finals at 10 a.m. CST.

All rounds of the double-elimination bracket will feature one best 4-of-7 Baker match with the national title being decided in a best 3-of-5 Baker match. The entire ITC can be streamed live via BowlTV.com with a subscription. The ITC title match will be televised on tape delay on CBS Sports Network Tuesday, May 7 at 7 p.m. CST.

A year ago, SFA earned the No. 9 seed for ITC bracket play following qualifying and finished among the final six teams before bowing out in the back draw finals. In 2017, the Ladyjacks finished qualifying as the No. 11 seed and reached the semifinals. SFA has posted four top-four finishes at national championship tournaments since the 2014-15 season when the Ladyjacks were the 2015 NCAA Championship runner-up.

Sophomore Sarah Gill wrapped up individual competition at the USBC's 2019 Intercollegiate Singles Championships (ISC) Wednesday morning at the Poelking Lanes South in Dayton. After qualifying for the 24-bowler individual national championship event in March at the ISC Smyrna sectional in Tennessee by placing fifth among 165 total bowlers, Gill reached the ISC second round with a 22-pin match victory Tuesday over 24th-seeded Megan Hess of St. Ambrose University (547-525).

Earning the No. 9 seed among the championship's 24 total competitors Tuesday morning, Gill matched up with eighth-seeded Karsyn Lukosius of Fairleigh Dickinson for round two of single-elimination match play. In the three-game total pinfall match Gill racked up 547 total pins, but it wasn't enough to top Lukosius, who claimed 651 pins to win the match and later advance to the ISC semifinals.

Four-time first-team All-American Stephanie Schwartz ('18) represented the Ladyjacks the previous three years at the ISC and took home last year's title.

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

-SFA-

Schedule

Ladyjacks Go for Second National Championship in Eight Days

Players Mentioned

Sarah Gill

Stephanie Schwartz

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