ITC WOMEN'S BRACKET 

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (May 6, 2021) – Mount St. Mary's bowling took down the No. 1 overall seed Stephen F. Austin to advance to the Intercollegiate Team Championships winners' bracket at Spectrum Lanes in Grand Rapids, Mich.

After 12 games of qualifying, hurt by a 666 opening four game block, the Mount found themselves dead last out of the 16 teams that had qualified for the national championship tournament. Standings were tight as expected, with the Mount only one pin away from the No. 15 seed and less than 100 pins back from the No. 9 seed. Nevertheless, the Mountaineers needed to own the last seed heading into their match with No. 1 Stephen F. Austin.

Looking like a completely different team, the Mount made key adjustments to how they tackled the freshly oiled conditions. After falling behind 0-1 with some spare miscues, the Mount rebounded with games of 218, 180, and 212 to take a 3-1 advantage heading into game five. As expected, the 2019 NCAA National Champions would not go down easily. The Lumberjacks responded with advantages of 226-211 and 211-182 to set up the decisive game seven. Aided by a spare and five consecutive strikes to start, the Mount cruised to a 222-193 victory to send the No. 1 overall seed to the losers' bracket and advance to play the No. 8 seed Mount Mercy tomorrow morning in round two of the winners' bracket.

The No. 16 seed defeating a No. 1 is not unheard of in the ITC's, with the last occurrence happening in 2012 when West Texas A&M defeated Wichita State.

In qualifying, the Mount was led by Junior Rebecca Dodson with a 19.55 baker frame average. In five frames of limited action off the bench, sophomore Amanda Yeung contributed big time with a 22.67 baker frame average.

Frame averages were much improved in the best-of-seven vs. Stephen F. Austin, with Freshmen Katherine Corbin leading the way with a 21.00. Junior Kayla Durbala (20.54), Dodson (20.27) and Yeung (19.92) also contributed nicely in the match.

"Obviously, our approach to the fresh oil was much better in match play than it was in qualifying," said head coach Kenneth DeGraaf. "We certainly did not intend to grab the 16 seed in qualifying, but you have to play everyone eventually, so it was nice to take down number one early. That being said, all of these teams are really good and we do not expect any wins to come easy. We will reset tomorrow and take one match at a time to give ourselves a shot at the national championship."

The Mount will face off against NAIA opponent Mount Mercy (IA) in the second round of the winners' bracket at 10 a.m. ET tomorrow. The Mustangs were the No. 1 team in the USBC collegiate bowling power point rankings entering tournament play. All matches will be streamed live on BowlTV.com.