The team, coaches, athletic administrators, members of the local media and UMES administrators gathered in the conference room of the William P. Hytche Athletic Center to view the show. The Hawks heard their name called fourth and will enter as the fourth-seeded team among the eight selected. It is just the second year that the selection committee revealed the actual ranking of the eight-team field. Seeding of course is nice to know, but has no meaning at the bowling championships as the teams will bowl the first day to earn a seeding position at the championships.
The selection show, which aired live on NCAA.com, is now archived on the website for viewing.
Like last year, the field features six teams from the Central region and just two from the Northeast. In order the teams selected are:
1. Arkansas Sate
2. Central Missouri
3. Nebraska
4. UMES
5. Fairleigh Dickinson
6. Vanderbilt
7. Sam Houston State
8. Wisconsin-Whiewater
With the selections, UMES joins Central Missouri and Nebraska as the only three teams to attend all 11 championships.
UMES, who fell by one pin in the semi-finals of the 2013 championship, won back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012. They went on to win the USBC Collegiate National Championship last season after the NCAA Championship event.
The 2014 event will be held in Wickliffe, Ohio, the site of UMES' 2012 NCAA title. That is the same site that the Hawks topped Fairleigh Dickinson in six games. With the victory, the Hawks became the first team since Nebraska in 2004-05 to win back-to-back national titles. The Huskers also won in 2009 and last year in 2013. Last season gave Nebraska their fourth NCAA title, one more than UMES. The two are the only programs in existence that have won both an NCAA and USBC Collegiate National Championship.
All of the National Champions to date are represented in the field. FDU won in 2006 and 2010 with UMES winning in 2008, 2011 and 2012. Vanderbilt won the other title in 2007. The Hawks were runners up to Vandy in 2007, and a semi-finalist in 2013. They finished fifth in 2010 and seventh in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009. UMES won in 2011 when they rebounded from a two-games-to-one deficit to top Vanderbilt and capture the Championship at Skore Lanes in Taylor, Michigan.
UMES is currently ranked third in the National Tenpins Coaches Association (NTCA) Coaches' poll and second in the Media poll. This season, as it did last year, the field represents the top eight teams in the coach's poll. The Hawks are coming off a second-straight win in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championships and have won six of the 10 events they entered this season. The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and Mid-American Conference will host the championship, which will be held April 10-12 at Game of Wickliffe in Wickliffe, Ohio. Tickets can be purchased on www.NCAA.com prior to the championship.
Competition begins with qualifying rounds in which each team bowls one five-person regular team game against each of the other seven teams participating in the championship for a total of seven games. Teams will be seeded for bracket play based on their win-loss record during the qualifying rounds.
Teams will then compete in best-of-seven-games Baker matches in a double elimination tournament. In the Baker format, each of the five team members, in order, bowls a complete frame until a complete (10-frame) game is bowled. A Baker match tied 3½ games to 3½ games after seven games will be decided by a tiebreaker using the Modified Baker format.
The championship finals will air on ESPNU at 8 p.m. ET on April 12. A tape-delayed broadcast of the championship finals will air on ESPN from 4-6 p.m. ET April 13. For more information about the National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship, log on to www.NCAA.com.
COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE SPORTS INFORMATION
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