The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
USBC Nationals
UAB Heads North to Compete on USBC National Stage
4/15/2019 9:18:00 PM | Women's Bowling
BIRMINGHAM – The UAB bowling team heads north to wrap up the season with its second consecutive appearance at the USBC Intercollegiate Championships, held April 16-20 in Dayton, Ohio.
The first two days of the tournament consist of the Intercollegiate Singles Championship, with junior Rachel Strogin representing the Blazers. This marks the first time that a member of the UAB bowling team has reached the singles championships.
Strogin lifted herself to championship-qualifying status with her history-making fourth place overall finish in the ITC Sectionals in March.
At sectionals, the Mentor, Ohio native bowled for 1,262 total pins across her six games, averaging a score of 210.33 per game.
This season, Strogin averages a score of 193.80 per match with a high of 245, in addition to being tied with Taylor Russell for the second-most 200+ games on the team with 15.
On Tuesday, the singles matchups kick off with six qualifying games before being seeded into bracket play. The top eight of the singles pool will receive a bye in the first round. Once bracket play begins, the format will consist of three games and will be based on total pin-fall. The top four individual bowlers will advance the championship on Saturday.
Team play begins on Thursday with 24 qualifying Baker games. Following those matches, each team will be seeded leading into the bracket. Match play will begin on Thursday and last through Friday and will be played in a best-of-seven, double elimination format. The top two finishers will move on to the team championship on Saturday following the singles finale.
UAB qualified for the ITC Team Championships with its second place finish at sectionals in which the Green and Gold notched a total pin-fall of 12, 410 over the three-day competition.
In their first appearance at the championships last season, the Blazers fell in the third round of bracket play.
Looking to lead UAB to a title alongside Strogin are Russell and All-Conference first-team member Caitlin Cunningham.
Cunningham leads the team this season with 18 200+ games and an average score of 190.78 across her 58 matches this season.
Russell leads the team for the highest individual game score of 290, one that propelled her to a fourth-place individual finish at the Columbia 300 Music City tournament earlier this season. The junior averages a score of 189.25 across her 52 matches.
Saturday's championship matches can be streamed at www.bowltv.com. The singles championship will begin at 8:30 a.m., followed by the team championship at approximately 11 a.m.
For more information on the UAB bowling team, follow the Blazers on Instagram and Twitter (@UAB_Bowl) or like them on Facebook (Facebook.com/UABBOWL).
