The Saint Vincent women's bowling team opened the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships with a 2-0 sweep over New Jersey City University to advance to day two of the three-day event.

The Bearcats, entering as the #1 seed with a first round bye, started strong in the best-of-three series against the Gothic Knights, who had advanced from the #5 seed by defeating #4 Penn State-Behrend in the first round.  Freshman Daphne Stuber started with three strikes, helping SVC open a 40-pin lead after just two frames of a Traditional game.  The lead grew to 70 by the midway point of game, and the Bearcats pulled away to a 925-755 victory.

Stuber finished with 8 strikes in the game, en route to a 230 to lead the way.  Jackie Koehler added a 190, while Sabine Strickland finished with a 188.

Up next was a five-game Baker team set, with total pins deciding the point.  SVC won the first game by a score of 184-166 to take an 18-pin lead.  Game two was close, but SVC prevailed by two pins, 188-186, before winning the third game by a 179-125 margin.  The Bearcats extended the lead to 98 pins with a 178-154 win in game four.  NJCU captured the fifth game, 205-194, but the Bearcats outscored the Gothic Knights by a score of 923-836 to win the point in a total team effort that saw the Bearcats using their entire roster.  The 2-0 victory allowed the Bearcats to advance to day two.

SVC (64-12) will face #2 seed William Smith College in the 9:30AM match on Saturday, as WSC advanced with a hard-fought win over #3 Alvernia University.  Alvernia won the traditional game, while the Herons captured the five-game Baker set, setting up a best-of-seven Baker block to decide the winner.  Alvernia led 3-2, but William Smith came back to win the final two games to advance in the winners bracket of the double-elimination tournament.

The event will continue through Sunday at Pines Plaza Lanes in Pittsburgh's North Hills.

LINK TO SATURDAY 9:30AM MATCH