Nebraska Earns Eighth Consecutive NCAA Championship Bid

The Nebraska bowling team will once again be competing among the field of eight invited to the 2011 NCAA bowling championships in Taylor, Michigan. The NCAA Women's Bowling Committee made the announcement on their NCAA bowling selection show that aired on NCAA.com Wednesday afternoon. The Huskers will be looking to earn their second NCAA title in three years, and their fourth NCAA Championship since bowling became an NCAA-sanctioned sport in 2004.

"In defense of our team being pretty bright and being around for a while, they anticipated this trip despite what Coach Klempa and I said," Head Coach Bill Straub said. "They've been nose to the grind stone anticipating Detroit since they've been back from break. They are preparing in full force."

Other teams to receive bids to the 2011 NCAA Championships include: Arkansas State, Central Missouri, Fairleigh Dickinson, Kutztown, Maryland Eastern Shore, Sam Houston State and Vanderbilt.

"We are looking to reach our potential at the championship," Straub said. "If somebody else beats us, then we aren't as good as them. All I can do is ask the team to do the best that they can."

Competition begins with qualifying rounds in which each team will bowl 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. 

Last year's NCAA Championships came down to the wire between Nebraska and Fairleigh Dickinson, who battled for the title in Saturday's televised finals. The Huskers came up just short, earning a runner-up spot at the championships. Nebraska fell 4-3 to the Knights in one of the closest finals in NCAA history. Nebraska was mere pins away from earning their second-consecutive NCAA title for the second time in school history.

This year's NCAA Championships will run from April 14-16 and take place at Skore Lanes in Taylor, Michigan, just miles from downtown Detroit. Tickets are available through NCAA.com or the Skore Lanes box office at (313) 291-6220.

All matches will be available live on NCAA.com. The NCAA Championship match will air Sunday, April 17 on ESPN. The finals will air on tape delay at 1:30 p.m. central.

NCAA History

The Nebraska Cornhuskers will be looking to earn their fourth NCAA Championship since 2004, and ninth national title under Head Coach Bill Straub and Assistant Coach Paul Klempa. The Huskers last won the title in 2009, after winning back-to-back in 2004-05. NU finished as runner-up in 2010.

Huskers Ranked Fifth Heading into NCAA Championships

Nebraska is ranked fifth in the final rankings before the NCAA Championships. The Huskers check in with 543 points on the season.

March's rankings are led by Fairleigh Dickinson with an NCAA leading 800 points. The Knights are followed by Maryland Eastern Shore (705), Central Missouri (669) and Vanderbilt University (613).

• 1. Fairleigh Dickinson - 800 (25)
• 2. Maryland Eastern Shore - 705
• 3. Central Missouri - 669
• 4. Vanderbilt University - 613
• 5. Nebraska - 543
• 6. New Jersey City - 485
• 7. Kutztown - 471
• 8. Arkansas State - 417

Review: Huskers Roll Their Way to Fourth Win of the Year

The Nebraska bowling team bowled its way to a first-place finish at the Columbia 300 Music City Invitational. The Huskers navigated Friday and Saturday's field and qualified for Sunday's best 4-of-7 finals as the four-seed, along with Fairleigh Dickinson, Vanderbilt and Central Missouri. The Huskers sat in fourth-place entering Sunday's finals.

Nebraska started Sunday's finals against three-seed Central Missouri, who the Huskers swept 4-0. Nebraska then had to take on two-seed Vanderbilt to determine who would take on one-seed Fairleigh Dickinson for the Championship. The NU women bowlers meant business again, ousting the Commodores, 4-1.

The final 4-of-7 baker series for the tournament championship saw Nebraska face off with Fairleigh Dickinson in a rematch of the 2010 NCAA Championship. This time, though, the Huskers avenged their NCAA loss, 4-1. Nebraska was down 0-1 before they surged back to win the next four baker games and the Columbia 300 Music City Invitational.

Katie Ann Sopp and Danielle van der Meer garnered All-Tournament honors thanks to their individual bowling performance on Saturday. Sopp had the third-highest average of the tournament at 216, while van der Meer struck her way to a to a 210 average, which was good for eighth-place on the All-Tournament team. The high average of the tournament, 228, belonged to Danielle Mcewan of Fairleigh Dickinson.

The Huskers finish the regular season with their fourth tournament win of the year and will rest until mid-April where the Huskers hope to compete for their second NCAA bowling title in three years. The NCAA Championships run from April 14-16 in Detroit, Mich.