UPIKE Newsroom

Win three straight matches in the contender’s bracket, then beat an undefeated team twice to win in all. Not too much to ask, it is?

For the University of Pikeville women’s bowling team, the answer is no as it beat Midland (Neb.) 3-2 twice in the finals to capture its third NAIA Bowling Invitational National Championship since the event was created in 2011 when the NAIA made bowling an emerging sport.

Bowling is nearing the point of earning its championship-sport status, but for the Bears, they are already there as Sunday’s win is added to previous NAIA titles in 2012 and 2015, and a pair of Intercollegiate Team Championships in 2004 and 2008.

This is the first national championship for head coach Bobby Brown, who is in his third season at the helm of the storied program. His team did not make it easy on his nerves to get it.

The NAIA National Invitational is a double-elimination, match-play event that starts with a full day of qualifying for the top-20 teams in the nation. Once the scores are in, every team is seeded into a bracket with the top 12 seeds receiving a bye into the second round.

UPIKE earned the No. 7 seed and won its first two matches over No. 10 St. Francis (Ill.) 3-1 and No. 15 Aquinas (Mich.) 3-2 before falling to No. 6-seed Grand View (Iowa) 3-0 in the winner’s bracket finals.

That is where things got interesting as the Bears were sent down to the contender’s bracket. They had won the championship from there before in 2012, but that only involved winning one match. This time it would need three wins just to get back in the title hunt.

UPIKE did not disappoint.

The run started early Sunday morning against No. 17 Concordia (Mich.) which UPIKE topped 3-2 after initially falling behind 2-0. Next up was third-seeded St. Ambrose (Iowa) which the Bears handled easier, 3-1. In the contender’s bracket finals, UPIKE met back up with Grand View, this time winning 3.5-0.5.

All that stood in the Bears’ way of a third NAIA title now was ninth-seeded Midland, which had won four straight matches without a loss, compared to the six matches it took UPIKE to get there. Back in 2015, the Bears were in Midland’s shoes, but this time around they were happy to see how the other shoe fits.   

That’s not to say either win was easy as Midland went up 2-0 in the first match before the Bears rallied back with wins of 200-179, 263-189 and 189-167. In the true championship match that followed, Midland again won the first game, but the Bears quickly knotted it up at 1-1 with a 213-199 win of their own.

After falling behind 2-1 after the third game, UPIKE did what it had done since early in the morning and put up its best performances when the going got tough. To put Midland away in the fifth game, the Bears tallied a four bagger, including  a strike from Karlee Evans that gave her two in the game.

UPIKE added on a couple late strikes and Midland had to settle for spares, allowing one final knockdown by Jessica Wolfe to clinch it with a 226-198 win in the fifth.

Megan Hedgespeth was named the NAIA National Invitational Most Valuable Player, which was added on to also being named the NAIA Champion of Character winner on Friday.

The NAIA title wraps up the 2017-18 season for UPIKE which also included winning the Mid-South Conference Regular-Season Championship and wins at the Buckeye Baker Classic, Stirking Knights Classic, MSC Baker event and Louisville Collegiate Classic.