NO. 7 NJCU TO HOST FOURTH ANNUAL ECAC WOMEN'S BOWLING CHAMPIONSHIP, MARCH 7-9, IN NORTH BRUNSWICK

(Courtesy of Ira Thor - Director of Sport Information, New Jersey City University) 

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - For the fourth consecutive year, New Jersey City University will host the Eastern College Athletic Conference Women's Bowling Championship. The 12-team tournament, which includes four of the Top 10 teams in the national rankings and seven among the Top 20, will be held over three days, beginning on Friday, March 7, running through Sunday, March 9, at Brunswick Zone Carolier Lanes at 790 Route 1 North in North Brunswick, NJ. Admission is free for all fans.

It will be the first time NJCU hosts the championship at Carolier Lanes, known as one of the premier bowling centers in the country. The site of the 65^th U.S. Open later this month from March 23-30-the third consecutive year it is held at Carolier-the center is also the site for the annual New Jersey high school state championships.

No. 6 ranked Fairleigh Dickinson University will look to three-peat as ECAC champions, after winning the event in 2006 and 2007. NJCU, ranked No. 7 in the Division I, II, and III National Tenpin Coaches Association national poll, won the inaugural ECAC title in 2005.

Other nationally ranked teams will be #4 Sacred Heart University, #10 Delaware State University, #14 Adelphi University, 2007 finalist and #17 ranked Saint Peter's College, and #19 Saint Francis College (NY). Other schools competing include Cheyney University, Hampton University, Howard University, Kutztown University, and Morgan State University

The ECAC Championship is the only tournament NJCU hosts each season, and with four of its nine bowlers from the Central Jersey area, Carolier Lanes is a very familiar venue for several of the team's stars. NJCU will be coming off arguably its best performance of the season when it finished third of 31 schools at the Morgan State Invitational in Baltimore, MD on February 17.

Senior three-time All-American Vicki Spratford (Hopelawn, NJ/Woodbridge), the 2007 NCAA Division III National Player of the Year, and the 2006 ECAC individual leader with a school-record 237.5 average said: "Having the ECACs at Carolier this year is definitely going to be a great experience. I bowled there more often than anywhere in high school and haven't bowled a tournament there since. I've had many great memories there and I am sure this tournament is going to add to it."

The ECAC Tournament will open on Friday, March 7 at 5:45 p.m. with the annual singles tournament. All bowlers will compete in four qualifying games, with the top eight individuals advancing to a single-elimination tournament in a #1 vs. #8, #2 vs. #7, #3 vs. #6 and #4 vs. #5 format, beginning at approximately 9 p.m. After the quarterfinals, the semifinal and championship matches will be contested.

On day two of the tournament on Saturday, March 8, all schools will bowl five traditional team games, beginning at 10 a.m. On the third day on March 9, each school will bowl three four-game total pinfall Baker matches at 9:15 a.m.

After the Baker qualifying round, the top four teams based on total pinfall will compete in single-elimination, best 4-out-of-7 Baker matches, with the #1 seed facing #4 and #2 vs. #3. The two winners will play for the championship with the non-advancing teams squaring off for third place. The rest of the field will compete in Baker consolation matches.

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