Belmont Abbey College, the #5 seed in the Pittsburgh Regional, upset #4 Saint Vincent in the opening round of the NCAA National Championship Tournament, held in Pittsburgh.  The final score in the best-of-three "mega match" was 2-1.

The Bearcats got off to a slow start in the Traditional game portion of the match, falling behind by as many as 75 pins before gaining some momentum near the end of the first game, losing by 42 pins, 918-876.

That momentum carried over into the five-game Baker total pins matchup, as SVC won all five games en route to a 956-812 victory.  The individual game scores were 213-186, 193-159, 216-166, 154-151, and 180-150.

A best-of-seven Baker tiebreaker would decide which team would move on to the second round.  SVC captured game one by a 167-160 score, but Belmont Abbey then put together three strong games (211-224-199) to take a 3-1 lead.  SVC had opportunities to win the fifth game, but missed spares proved to be costly, as SVC lost by a score of 168-161, ending the match.

Individually, Saint Vincent was led in the Traditional game by junior Daphne Stuber (190).  Mareana Pilyih added a 184.  In Baker games, it was again Stuber posting the top score, averaging 208.8, while Pilyih averaged 196.5.

SVC finishes the NCAA portion of its season with a record of 45-4, but the season will continue as the team is one of 16 programs that have earned a trip to the US Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Team Championships, April 15-18, in Green Bay, Wisconsin.