Huskers Earn Top Seed in NCAA Championship Field

The Nebraska bowling team has been selected to its 14th-straight NCAA Championship, earning the top seed in a field of eight teams as the NCAA announced the participants on Wednesday. The 2017 National Collegiate Bowling Championship will take place April 13-15 at Raising Cane's River Center in Baton Rouge, La.

The Cornhuskers will enter the championship with wins in four of their nine tournaments this season, along with three second-place finishes. NU has a head-to-head record of 85-21 on the season.

McKendree, Arkansas State, Sam Houston State, Vanderbilt, Fairleigh Dickinson, Stephen F. Austin and Maryland-Eastern Shore will join the Huskers at the competition in Louisiana. 

Nebraska is now the only program in the nation to have qualified for the NCAA Championship in each of the 14 years that bowling has been an NCAA-sanctioned sport.

"Ever since the start of the spring semester, the team has played well," said head coach Bill Straub. "We've certainly turned things around since the fall, and we've had an excellent time doing it. We're happy the statistics show we're worthy of the status that comes with the number one seed."

Competition begins with qualifying rounds of traditional team matches on Thurday, April 13 and the morning of Friday, April 14. Each team will compete against the other seven teams in a round-robin format, with qualifying results determining the seeding for the best-of-seven Baker format double-elimination tournament that will take place on April 14 and the morning of Saturday, April 15. In the Baker format, each of the five team members, in order, bowls a complete frame until a complete (10-frame) game is bowled. 

The championship match will air live on ESPNU at 5:30 p.m. (CT) on April 15. Qualifying rounds will be streamed live on NCAA.com.

Nebraska has won NCAA championships in 2004, 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2015, and the Huskers have reached the championship match in each of the last four seasons.

Julia Bond leads the Huskers with an average of 213.9 in traditional matches this season. Bond, a junior from Aurora, Ill., was named Most Outstanding Bowler at the 2015 NCAA Championship and put together the highest average at the 2016 championship with an average of 228.4. 

Tickets for the 2017 National Collegiate Bowling Championship can be purchased at NCAA.com/tickets.