BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The No. 13 LIU Brooklyn bowling team, winners of 16 of the team's last 19 matches over the last two weekend events will face the largest field of teams in NCAA bowling at the Music City Classic hosted by Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee with 32 teams vying for the top prize. The Music City Classic will be the team's final event before the NEC Championships, March 23-25 in Howell, N.J.
MASSIVE FIELD IN MUSIC CITY
Within the 32 teams in this week's event, 16 schools, exactly half the field is ranked in the current NTCA Coaches pool. The top ten teams the Blackbirds may face are: No. 3 Arkansas State, No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Sam Houston State, No. 6 Stephen F. Austin, No. 7 Delaware State and No. 8 Maryland-Eastern Shore. Although the matchups are not set yet, LIU Brooklyn (65-39) is in Pool A for the event with No. 24 Maryville (Mo.), Monmouth and North Central (Ill.). Also, there are three other NEC schools in the field, No. 12 Sacred Heart, No 16 Saint Francis U. and St. Francis Brooklyn.
The tournament will begin on Friday, March 16 and run until Sunday, March 18, with five baker matches on Friday and five traditional matches on Saturday. Sunday's bracketed playoff will be best-of-seven baker format, with the seeds determined by average pinfall over the first two days at Smyrna Lanes, just outside of Nashville.
MOVIN' ON UP IN THE RANKS
With their recent play, the Blackbirds moved up three spots in the national rankings to 13th in the most recent Coaches poll, making the largest move of teams in the poll's top 20 teams. Plus, the poll did not include LIU's most recent result, going 10-2 at the Monmouth Hawk Flight Invitational.
MUSIC CITY HISTORY
Last year, LIU in Music City for the fourth consecutive year, finished in 12th place out of 25 teams, with an 8-5 overall record in Music City. Then junior Lauren McKowen earned All-Tournament Team honors, as she led the Blackbirds with a 218 average. Seniors McKowen, Alyssa Balicki, Kristina Genova and Marlee Tyler will be aiming for LIU's first-ever finish inside the top ten in their final regular season event.
NEC CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE NEXT
The Blackbirds (11-7 NEC) finished in second place in the final Northeast Conference standings following three series of round robin play. The NEC Championships will be at Howell Lanes, in Howell, N.J. from Friday-Sunday, March 23-25. LIU earned a first day bye with the top two regular season finish and will begin play on Saturday morning, March 24.