The NCAABowling Championship is a sanctioned women's championship in college athletics. Unlike many NCAA sports, only one National Collegiate championship is held each season with teams from Division I, Division II, and Division III competing together. Seventeen teams, nine of them automatic qualifiers and the other eight being at-large selections, are chosen by the NCAA Bowling Committee to compete in the championship. The championship was first held in April 2004.
The most successful team is Nebraska with 6 titles. Jacksonville State, in its inaugural season as an NCAA bowling program, is the reigning champion, coming back from 3 games to 2 deficit to defeat Arkansas State 4 games to 3 in the 2024 championship held at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, MI.
Nebraska is the only program to qualify for all 20 NCAA Bowling Championships since the NCAA started sponsoring bowling in the 2003–04 season.[1]
Format
The collegiate bowling season runs from late October through the end of March, and the National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship is held in April.
Through 2017
The format for the championships from 2004 to 2017 began with qualifying rounds in which each team bowled one five-person regular team game against each of the other seven teams participating in the championship.
Teams would then be seeded for bracket play based on their qualifying rounds win–loss record and then competed 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 one frame until a complete (10-frame) game is bowled. A Baker match tied 3½ games to 3½ games after seven games is decided by a tiebreaker, using the Modified Baker format, which takes the scoring from only frames 6 thru 10.[2]
2018 and 2019
In previous years, all eight participants received at-large bids. In 2018 the NCAA Women's Bowling Committee selected a field of ten participants. Six teams are automatic qualifiers from the conferences that have been granted an automatic bid, and the other four receive at-large bids. At that time, the six conferences that fulfilled the criteria to be granted an automatic qualifier were the Division IMid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Northeast Conference, Southland Bowling League, and Southwestern Athletic Conference, plus the Division IICentral Intercollegiate Athletic Association and East Coast Conference. The ten participants were ranked and seeded based on the criteria used by the selection committee. The top six seeds automatically entered the championship bracket. The four lowest-seeded teams played in on-campus opening round matches to determine the two participants advancing to the eight-team championship bracket. To minimize travel costs, the matchups were determined by geographical proximity rather than seedings.[3]
In 2019, the championship field expanded from 10 to 12 teams, coinciding with two new conferences fulfilling the criteria for automatic qualification—the Division IIMid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) and the Division IIIAllegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. Accordingly, eight conference champions received automatic bids, and the NCAA Women's Bowling Committee selected four at-large teams to fill out the 12-team field. The top four teams were seeded into the Championship bracket, while the eight remaining teams competed in four play-in matches. The winners of these matches were seeded into the eight-team championship bracket.[4]
Qualifying rounds were eliminated in favor of a seeded double-elimination bracket. Each match within the bracket consisted of best-of-three matches using specified formats (five-person regular team matches, Baker total pinfall, and Baker match play).
The championship finals were a best-of-seven match using Baker match play rules.[5] The tiebreaker rule used through 2017 will still apply to Baker match play in the new format.
From 2020
The championship was scheduled to expand to 16 teams in 2020. The number of automatic bids was reduced by one after the MIAA bowling league disbanded at the end of the 2018–19 season. Although five schools that had participated in the final season of MIAA bowling became part of the new bowling league of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), those schools were not in the same bowling league for a sufficient time to allow the GLVC to inherit the MIAA's automatic bid.[6]
The 2020 tournament was intended to be the first to feature regional play. The field was to be split into four regions, each with four teams competing at predetermined sites; each of the top four seeds as chosen by the NCAA selection committee would be placed in a separate regional. Each regional was to be played as a double-elimination tournament, with the format identical to that introduced for the championship event in 2019. All regional matches, except for what the NCAA calls "if necessary regional finals", are best-of-three matches bowled in the following order: five-person team, Baker total pinfall, Baker best-of-seven match play. Any "if necessary regional final" will be Baker best-of-seven.[6] Regional winners will advance to the championship event, which will also be double-elimination. All matches will be bowled under the standard format for regionals (best-of-three matches using specified formats in a specific order) except the championship final, which will be Baker best-of-seven.[6]
On March 12, 2020, the NCAA announced that the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7]
The 2021 tournament featured six automatic berths (CIAA had its championship cancelled due to COVID-19) and ten at-large selections. This was the first tournament to feature regional play. Both regional and championship rounds were all played at one site.[8] The 2022 tournament saw the number of automatic bids increase by two, to eight, with the GLVC champion receiving an automatic bid for its champion and the CIAA champion returning after a one-year absence. There were eight at-large selections. For the first time, regional competition took place at four predetermined regional sites - Erie, PA, Rochester, NY, Lansing, MI, and Arlington, TX, with the regional winners advancing to the championship round.[9] The 2023 tournament saw the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin gain an automatic bid, bringing the total number of automatic bids to nine. Eight at-large selections and four predetermined regional sites carried over from the 2022 tournament.[10] The 2024 tournament will see the Conference Carolinas and Great Midwest Athletic Conference gain an automatic bid, bringing the total number of automatic bids to ten. Eight at-large selections and four predetermined regional sites carried over from the 2023 tournament.[11]
Champions
All schools are listed with their current athletic brand names, which do not always match those used by a school in the relevant season.
43 teams have appeared in the NCAA Tournament in at least one year starting with 2004. The results for all years are shown in this table below.[40] Conference affiliations in the table reflect those in place for the 2023–24 school year. The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament:
2004 through 2019
CH National Champion
RU National Runner-up
3 3rd Place (2004 through 2006 only.)
4 4th Place (2004 through 2006 only.)
3ᴛ Semifinalists (Starting in 2007, there were two 4-team brackets, so two teams tied for 3rd.)
The CACC started sponsoring bowling in 2022–23. It currently does not have enough bowling members to receive an automatic bid; even if it did, it would not be eligible until 2024–25.
The CCIW effectively absorbed the Central Intercollegiate Bowling Conference, a D-III league that had received official NCAA recognition in 2019–20.[42] Four of the six CIBC members were already full CCIW members. Assuming that at least seven of the eight inaugural bowling members continue to compete in the CCIW, it will receive its first automatic bid to the Championship in 2022–23.
The two D-II leagues announced that they would conduct a joint bowling championship effective in 2021–22.[43][44] Assuming that at least seven of the eight inaugural members continue to compete in the alliance, it will receive its first automatic bid to the Championship in 2023–24.
The Southland Bowling League merged into CUSA after the 2022–23 season. Of the eight final SBL members, two were full CUSA members, namely Louisiana Tech, which has been a full CUSA member since 2013, and Sam Houston, which became a full member in July 2023. The other six SBL members became CUSA associates. These schools were joined by Jacksonville State, which also became a full member in July 2023 and added bowling at that time. CUSA inherited the SBL's automatic bid.[45] CUSA will add affiliate Wichita State, which is elevating its club team to full varsity status, in 2024–25.
^Nebraska had to win two best-of-seven matchups against Central Missouri (who advanced to the finals after going undefeated in Friday's double elimination format) to win the first NCAA bowling title. Nebraska won the first match 4–2 (183–176, 168–200, 195–170, 212–212 (60–40), 168–203, 246–195) to force the winner-take-all match.
^Under the same double elimination format used in 2004, Nebraska went undefeated, winning three matches on Friday, meaning they only had to win once (out of a possible two best-of-seven matches) against Central Missouri to win the NCAA Bowling Championship. Nebraska needed only one best-of-seven match-up to win their second straight NCAA Bowling title.
^Fairleigh Dickinson (only team undefeated, 3-0 after Friday's double elimination matches) needed only one best-of-seven match (out of a possible two matches) to defeat Alabama A&M.
^The double elimination format was tweaked in 2007 and was last used in the 2019 championships. Under the previous double elimination format used from 2004–2006, the finalist with one loss had to defeat the undefeated finalist twice in best-of-seven matches to win the bowling championship. Beginning in 2007, two teams that win two best-of-seven matches advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the two undefeated teams would only need to win once out a possible two matches to advance to the final. In the 2007 championships, Vanderbilt and Maryland Eastern Shore won two matches to advance to the semifinals. Both teams only needed one match to advance to the best-of-seven finals match.
^The GLVC added women's bowling for 2019–20, effectively absorbing the former bowling league of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. Of the six schools that competed in MIAA bowling in 2018–19, five joined GLVC bowling. Lincoln (MO) dropped bowling after the 2019–20 season, but was immediately replaced by the new bowling team of full GLVC member Quincy. The GLVC has received an automatic bid to the Championship since 2021–22.
^"National Champions!" (Press release). University of Maryland Eastern Shore Athletics. April 16, 2011. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
