The top-seeded Bearcats advanced to the final round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship with a 2-1 victory over #2-seed Medaille University.
 
In the traditional game, Saint Vincent fell behind the Mavericks early in the match, and trailed by 45 pins after 8 frames.  The Bearcat rally started in the 9th frame, with a strike by Monique Koehler.  Sabine Strickland followed with a strike, then Kaitlyn Morrison added a spare.  Olivia Emmonds and Jackie Koehler ended the frame with strikes, cutting the margin to just 15.  In the 10th frame, Strickland threw 3 strikes, then Emmonds and Jackie Koehler each threw 2 strikes in the final frame, lifting SVC to a 39-pin victory, 998-959.  Strickland finished with a 222 game, while Jackie Koehler shot a 220, and Emmonds added a 212.
 
A five-game Baker team total pin series followed, and Medaille got the jump early with a 201-166 win in game one.  SVC stormed back in game 2, winning 199-150 to take a 14-pin lead.  Medaille gained back eight pins in game three, 186-178.  SVC lost the advantage with a poor performance in game four, losing 226-147, and Medaille cruised through game five to earn the win, 925-852.
 
That set up the deciding match, a Best-of-7 Baker series.  The Bearcats were sharp in the opener, posting a 197-179 win.  Medaille tied the match in game two, with a narrow 3-pin win (179-176).  Medaille took a 2-1 lead with a victory in game three, 193-159, but the Bearcats regrouped and tied the match with a 203-182 win in game four.  SVC took the lead in game five, winning 224-180, thanks to four straight strikes by Mercedes Belch, Strickland, Emmonds, and Jackie Koehler.  Up 3-2, the Bearcats sealed the victory with a 180-164 win, to earn the 4-2 series win and a 2-1 overall victory for the day.

The Bearcats (51-7) now advance to the Championship round on Sunday at 9:30AM, hosting the winner of Medaille/New Jersey City University.  Both teams have one loss in the double-elimination format, while Saint Vincent is the only undefeated team going into the final day.  The winning team on Sunday earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA National Tournament.
 
DAY ONE:
The Bearcats opened the tournament with a matchup against #5-seed New Jersey City University, a team that had advanced to the final four with a preliminary round win over #4 Pitt-Bradford.  Saint Vincent got off to a slow start, as the Gothic Knights took the lead in the second frame and appeared to be on their way to a win in the traditional match.  NJCU led by as 45 pins after six frames, before the Bearcats started to chip away at the lead.
 
Monique Koehler and Olivia Emmonds each threw strikes in frames 7-8-9 to close the gap.  In the 10th, Emmonds added her fourth and fifth consecutive strikes to put SVC in front for the first time in the game.  Jackie Koehler made her spare in the 10th then threw a strike on the final shot, as SVC won by a score of 873-865.  Emmonds led the way with a 230, while Monique Koehler finished with a 209.
 
Up next was a five-game Baker team set against NJCU, and SVC won the initial game by a score of 211-162, followed by a 177-155 game.  Up 71 pins after two games, the Bearcats yielded 9 pins in game three (182-173) then won game four by 8 pins to keep the margin at 70 pins.  The Gothic Knights threw a 203 in the final game, but the Bearcats held on for the 878-846 win, securing the 2-0 victory and moving SVC ahead in the winners bracket to day two.