Wichita State women’s bowling‘s first season of NCAA eligibility ended in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament.
The Shockers came into the Final Four as the No. 4 seed. On Friday, they lost to No. 1 Jacksonville State, who they beat twice in a row to win the Conference USA Championship two weeks ago, and No. 2 Nebraska.
The Final Four was a double-elimination, best-of-three Mega Match format.
With the two losses ending WSU’s season, the team finished 87-38 overall.
The Shockers lost a match for the first time since the opening round of the CUSA tournament against Jacksonville State. The teams went to a best-of-seven tiebreaker and WSU ultimately fell to the Gamecocks, 2-1.
Before the best-of-seven, the Shockers nabbed the traditional match with a 1,052-1,018 win.
Jacksonville State then rallied to win the total pinfall baker match by taking four of the five games. The Gamecocks barely held on, however, and won by 30 to send it to the best-of-seven tiebreaker.
WSU started strong and won the first game, 231-216. The teams went back and forth from there and eventually pushed it to game seven. Jacksonville State held on to take the game and match, 4-3.
In the sixth and seventh games of the tiebreaker, the Shockers put up their worst scores of the match, 163 and 171 respectively. On the other lane, the Gamecocks managed its second and third-best scores in those games, 235 and 233 respectively, to win the match.
In the double-elimination side of the bracket, WSU met a quicker fate against Nebraska, losing 2-0.
The Shockers lost their first traditional match during their NCAA Championship run, 1,050-985.
The Cornhuskers built a 39-pin lead after game one of the baker total pinfall match, 256-217. The Shockers picked up two of the next three games but needed a big game five to make up a 47-pin deficit, 880-833.
WSU won in the fifth game, but not by as many as was needed to force a best-of-seven match.
