Newman Sports
David Rung, Sports Information Director
BATON ROUGE, La. – After a tough qualifying round, the Newman men’s and women’s bowling teams showed some fight early in the match play rounds at the 2017 USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships Thursday.
The Jet women bounced back after a slow finish to qualifying, matching up against fifth-seeded Lindenwood in the first round. Newman dropped the first game, but responded with games of 175 and 214 to go up 2-1. Lindenwood tied it up then went ahead despite a 202 out of the Jets in the fifth game, but Newman closed strong, rolling back-to-back games of 226 and 212 to finish a 4-3 win in the best-of-seven match.
That set the Jets up for a quick turnaround, going up against fourth-seeded McKendree, which just won the NCAA championship last week, in the second round. A quick win in the first game gave Newman a lead, but the Bearcats zoomed back to win four straight and clinch a spot in the winner’s bracket final.
Newman dropped to the second round of consolations, and it will face the winner of Mount Mercy and Savannah Friday morning at 9:45. The Jets will need to win five straight matches Friday in order to reach Saturday’s national title match.
The Jet men drew the top seed after a rough go in qualifying, but didn’t seem to let that bother them at first, clawing out wins in the first two games against Webber International to grab the lead in the first-round match. The Warriors – who took home the NAIA national title three weeks ago – answered with four straight 200 games to seal up a 4-2 win.
Newman will have an early morning, facing ninth-seeded Midland in the first round of consolations back at the Raising Cane’s Convention Center at 7:45 Friday morning. The Jets would need to win six consecutive matches Friday to advance to the national championship.
Live results from each Newman match will be available at www.newmanjets.com.