New Southland Bowling League Established
Southland Conference
FRISCO, Texas – A newly-formed consortium of eight NCAA women’s bowling programs have agreed to compete as the Southland Bowling League beginning in 2015, with the immediate goals of competing at the highest level and automatically qualifying for NCAA Championship in the near future.
The Southland Bowling League include the teams from Sam Houston State University (2014 NCAA Champion), Stephen F. Austin State University, Arkansas State University (2008 NCAA runner-up), Louisiana Tech University, Monmouth (N.J.) University, Tulane University, Valparaiso University and Vanderbilt University (2007 NCAA Champion, 2011 and 2013 NCAA runner-up).
“The Southland Bowling League is an exciting opportunity for these eight institutions to be a part of the continued growth of collegiate women’s bowling,” said SBL Executive Director Stephanie McDonald. “These schools have a strong competitive history, including two national championships. We look forward to a great league that will provide quality competition and national championship opportunities for these student-athletes.”
The Southland Bowling League will not conduct regular-season competition, but will instead hold a single championship tournament, the inaugural 2015 event being held at Del Mar Lanes in Houston, on March 21-22. The competitive format will be similar to the one followed at the NCAA Championship. By formalizing as league, the association can qualify for an NCAA automatic bid no later than the 2017 national championship. Until an automatic qualification is provided, Southland Bowling League members will be at-large candidates for the NCAA Championship.
The collection of Southland Bowling League members immediately makes it one of the top consortiums in the sport. The 2014-15 preseason poll compiled by the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) had six of the eight teams in its Top 20, including No. 2 Arkansas State, No. 3 Sam Houston State, No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 9 Stephen F. Austin, No. 15 Valparaiso, No. 20 Monmouth, as well as a seventh team, Tulane, receiving votes. Additionally, in 2013-14 the NTCA honored Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, Vanderbilt, Valparaiso and Tulane for achieving team grade point averages of at least 3.2.
While the Southland Conference will provide administrative oversight of this new association, the Southland Bowling League will operate independently from regular conference operations.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE FORMATION OF THE SOUTHLAND BOWLING LEAGUE:
Brad Hagen, head coach of Sam Houston State, 2014 NCAA Bowling Champion:
“The implementation of the Southland Bowling League and the overwhelming support from the Southland Conference for this new adventure has been amazing. In a very short but diligent time frame we've collectively put together the strongest and most successful NCAA Division I Conference in the country. By forming this new conference league it'll allow all of those teams in it to have new post season opportunities as well as future opportunities as we all seek a national championship. This is going to be a new and amazing ride for all of us and we're looking forward to the new venture.”
Amber Lemke, head coach of Stephen F. Austin:
"We're very excited about the formation of the Southland Bowling League and the opportunities having our own conference will bring. We will have one of the toughest conferences in the nation with a number of programs that consistently rank in the top-10 nationally and it will give our girls the chance to control their own destiny when it comes to the NCAA tournament. It is exciting to see our sport continue to grow and we are looking forward to taking on this new challenge beginning this spring."
Matt Nantais, head coach of Valparaiso:
“Valparaiso University is very excited to be part of the Southland Bowling League. I believe we will have one of the stronger conferences in the NCAA. We are honored to be with the group of teams that are in this conference. We are also excited to be able to compete in our first conference championship in March.”