The Saint Vincent women’s bowling team is headed back to the NCAA Tournament, a Division III power among a cluster of Division I and II programs, and the Bearcats will roll on at the local regional.
Saint Vincent (45-3), which has the best winning percentage in the nation, will take on Belmont Abbey (38-43) in the Pittsburgh Region April 2-4.
The site is AMC Mt. Lebanon Lanes.
Duquesne (62-43) also made the national tournament and will open against Nebraska (74-35) in Pittsburgh in the regional round.
Saint Vincent made the tournament for the first time last year and lost to Marian, 2-0, in the first round.
Overall, 19 teams will compete in the tournament, 11 of which received automatic bids as conference champions. That includes SVC, which won the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.
Regionals use a double-elimination format, except for the first round, which is a single-elimination mega match.
The Saint Vincent-Belmont Abbey winner will play Arkansas State (77-34).
The NCAA championship will be April 10-11 at Yorktown Lanes in Parma Heights, Ohio.
Saint Vincent picked up several postseason accolades after another successful regular season.
Junior Skyy Nicholls and sophomores Mara Pilyih and Brooke Street were named the All-AMCC first team, while sophomore Kaylie Kurland made the second team.
Freshman Savannah Douglass earned the AMCC Newcomer of the Year, and ninth-year leader of the Bearcats, Jeff Zidek, was tabbed the conference coach of the year.
SVC also will compete in the U.S. Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Championships on April 15 in Green Bay, Wisc.
Kalich All-American
Seton Hill women’s basketball standout Mia Kalich was named an honorable mention All-American by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
The program’s standard bearer for double-doubles, Kalich averaged 14 points and 12.1 rebounds and finished with 22 double-doubles and three triple-doubles in 31 games this season for the Griffins (22-9), who reached the NCAA Atlantic Regional.
Kalich was named the PSAC West Defensive Player of the Year and was an all-region second-team pick.
Tapper top athlete
Michigan junior Liz Tapper, a Hempfield graduate, was named the Big Ten Conference Field Athlete of the Week.
Tapper won the shot put with a throw of 17.22 meters, coming within less than an inch of her personal best.
No-hitter for Ross
Lock Haven sophomore pitcher Talia Ross, a Belle Vernon graduate, tossed a five-inning no-hitter in an 8-0 win over Mansfield.
Ross struck out 10 and improved to 8-2 on the season.
The left-hander has a 2.51 ERA, 83 strikeouts and 26 walks in 58 2/3 innings.
Ross came back from a ruptured Achilles tendon she sustained during a practice early in her senior season of high school.
Ross had a 20-strikeout game for BVA, tying star Bailey Parshall’s program record for strikeouts in a seven-inning game.
Maier for 3
Saint Vincent senior basketball player Makenna Maier finished the season third in the country in Division III in 3-point percentage (43.9%). She made 65 of 148 3s, including eight in one game. Maier led SVC in scoring and rebounding the last two seasons.
Around campus
Saint Vincent junior softball player Alyssa Henderson reached 100 career hits. … Seton Hill senior baseball player Jack Whalen now has over 100 career hits (204), runs (182) and stolen bases (112) in 190 games. … The Saint Vincent men’s volleyball team is on a 14-game winning streak. The Bearcats have not lost a set since Feb. 27 at Geneva.