RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. - The Warhawk women's bowling team bounced back from a first round lost to top-seeded Stephen F. Austin to defeat Vanderbilt and advance to the third round of the NCAA Championships Friday. 

UW-Whitewater won two of the first three games of the seven-game Baker match against Stephen F. Austin but SFA rattled off three wins in a row to advance in the bracket. Game scores (UW-Whitewater scores listed first) were 207-200, 201-221, 219-147, 188-238, 170-188 and 192-215. 

The Warhawks faced Vanderbilt in the second round of the double-elimination tournament for the opportunity to continue competing in the championships. UW-Whitewater fell behind 2-0 in the match losing the first two games 209-178 and 206-191. The Warhawks responded with 229-196 and 236-225 wins to even the score 2-2. A 257-152 loss in the fifth game of the series was followed by a rare tie game, 224-224 in game six. UW-Whitewater won game seven 204-180 to create a tiebreaker situation. With the match even at 3.5-3.5, the tiebreaker set begins in the sixth frame. The Warhawks struck in four of the final five frames of the tiebreaker to register the win 4-3.5 and advance in the bracket. 

UW-Whitewater will face Arkansas State Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. The championships will conclude Saturday. 

Final Qualifying Round Recap - Friday Morning
RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. - The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's bowling team has captured the eighth seed heading into the next phase of the NCAA Women's Bowling Championships, bracket play. The Warhawks went 1-6 in the qualifying rounds including two tough losses Friday morning to claim the eighth seed. 

The qualifying round consisted of traditional team games in a round-robin format with overall record determining the seeds for the bracket. 

UW-Whitewater opened Friday with a close match against Central Missouri. Despite a 222 from Lindsay Rusch (Appleton/Kimberly ), the Warhawks fell to UCM by just 10 pins, 947-937. 

In the second match of the day, four Warhawks posted 200+ games but Vanderbilt put together their best team total of the qualifying round for the 1,074-1,025 win. Dayna Mackie (Glendale Heights, IL/Glendale Heights) led UW-Whitewater with a 227. 

The Warhawks will face Stephen F. Austin, the top seed, in the first round of bracket play beginning at 3:30 p.m. UW-Whitewater defeated SFA in their opening match of the qualifying round. Bracket play will consist of best-of-seven Baker matches in double elimination format. 

Graphic courtesy of Danny Reise