The Saint Vincent women's bowling team has advanced to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships after a pair of 2-0 sweeps over HIlbert College and William Smith College.

On Friday, the #1-seed Bearcats had a first-round bye, then faced #5 Hilbert in a second round matchup.  Saint Vincent took the lead in the opening frame and never looked back, cruising to a 999-821 victory in the Traditional match.  Skyy Nicholls (237) and Mareana Pilyih (236) led the way, while Kaylie Kurland added a 182, and Abby Justice finished with a 181.  To complete the sweep, SVC needed to win a five-game Baker match, with the winner determined by total pins.  Hilbert got off to a strong start, building a 61-pin lead after two games.  SVC managed to cut the margin to 24 after the third game, but Hilbert won game four and increased the lead to 56 pins with just 10 frames remaining.  The Bearcats stormed back with consecutive strikes from Pilyih, Justice, Kurland and Sabine Strickland, pulling away to a 228-166 win and a total-pin victory by five pins, 916-911.

The team started Saturday in the winners' bracket, facing #2-seed William Smith, which had defeated Pitt-Bradford on Friday to advance.

In the opening Traditional game, SVC once again got off to a quick start, building a 30-pin lead after two frames.  A triple by Nicholls, four straight strikes by Daphne Stuber, and five in a row by Pilyih helped SVC build the advantage, and the team kept up the pressure, winning by a score of 992-854.  Pilyih finished with a 245, while Justice added a 219. Strickland and Stuber combined for a 184, and Nicholls finished with 181.

Up next was the five-game Baker set, and the Bearcats started with three consecutive strikes from Justice, Brooke Street and Stuber, opening up a 91-pin lead after one game (210-119).  The Herons battled back to shoot a 209 in game two, but SVC countered with a 228, after starting with four strikes in a row.  By the end, SVC had captured the point by 95 pins, 974-879.

Through the first two days of the tournament, SVC is averaging 194.0 through 20 games. 

The Championship match will take place on Sunday morning at 9:30AM at Pines Plaza Lanes.  SVC will face William Smith, as the Herons defeated Hilbert in the Saturday afternoon game to earn a berth in the title match.  It is a double-elimination format, so SVC needs just one win to advance to the NCAA National Tournament, while their opponent will need to win twice.

The match will be shown here:  https://boxcast.tv/channel/wpp8t4lueurnixyxockf