WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State earned a coveted top four overall seed in the NCAA Women's Bowling Championship bracket announced Wednesday, securing the #1 seed in the Lansing Regional.
The Shockers (84-36) will square off with #4 seed Felician (75-32) in the opening round Mega Match on Friday, April 4. On the opposite side of the bracket, #2 seed Vanderbilt battles #3 seed FDU. The regional round is double-elimination format.
Felician won the program's first Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship to reach the tournament as an automatic qualifier. The Golden Falcons, who were ranked #22 in the latest edition of the NTCA poll, defeated Dominican University of New York in the opening round and Caldwell twice to secure the championship.
Elsewhere in the 19-team field, Jacksonville State (#1 overall seed - Arlington Regional), Nebraska (#2 overall seed - Pittsburgh Regional) and Youngstown State (#3 overall seed - Rochester Regional) snagged the top spots in their respective regions. Wichita State's region is the only one in the field with just four teams; the other three regions each have five teams with a single-elimination play-in round on Thursday, April 3.
Conference USA was well-represented in the bracket, with eight of the 19 teams hailing from CUSA (Jacksonville State, Wichita State, Youngstown State, Arkansas State, Vanderbilt, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Louisiana Tech). The Shockers won the CUSA Championship this past weekend, surging back from an opening round loss to Arkansas State to win seven consecutive matches in the Contender's Bracket. Wichita State knocked off defending NCAA champion Jacksonville State twice on Sunday to earn the trophy.