PITTSBURGH – The 11th-ranked Duquesne bowling team will conclude the 2022-23 season at the Intercollegiate Singles/Team Championships in Las Vegas on April 18-22. Kiearra Saldi will represent the Dukes in singles competition.

The Dukes, who qualified as the No. 3 team in Sectional games at Dayton, Ohio on March 11-12, will join four qualifiers from the other three Sectionals which were held in held in Addison, Ill., Smyrna, Tenn. and Dallas, Texas at the 16-team ITC Nationals at South Point Bowling Plaza.

This is the third time - 2019 & 2022 are the others - that the Dukes have qualified for Nationals. DU's top Nationals performance came in 2019 when the team finished 3-2 in storming through the elimination bracket to just miss a spot in the event's final four.

Team Championship qualifying round play is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. MT (11:00 a.m. Eastern) on Thursday, April 20.

Saldi qualified out of the Dayton Sectional, where she placed fourth out of a field of 154 bowlers. She will be among 24 women vying for an individual national title. Saldi, who advanced to the National semifinal last year, is the second Duquesne bowler to qualify for Nationals twice, joining former NTCA National Player of the Year Olivia Farwell (2018-22).

Singles play gets underway with a qualifying round scheduled for 10:30 a.m. (1:30 p.m. Eastern) on Tuesday, April 18.

Both the ISC and ITC events will be streamed by BowlTV (subscription required).

ITC Information.
ISC Information.

ITC FORMAT
All 16 teams will participate in the true double-elimination competition within the assigned eight-team bracket, consisting of a best-of-seven Baker System match. There will be no byes. Bracket assignments will be determined by qualifying scores. #1 will bowl #16, #2 will bowl #15, #3 will bowl #14, #4 will bowl #13, #5 will bowl #12, #6 will bowl #11, #7 will bowl #10 and #8 will bowl #9 in the opening round of match play.

From the second round on, the winning teams of each match will remain in the winners bracket and the losing teams will move into the elimination bracket. In order for a team in the elimination bracket to advance in the tournament, they must keep winning. Once a team in the elimination bracket incurs a second loss, that team is eliminated from the tournament.

The ITC televised finals format will be a single-elimination best-of-five Baker match between the two bracket champions in each division.

ISC FORMAT
All twenty-four (24) women will bowl six (6) games of qualifying to determine the seeding for the match-play brackets. The top eight athletes after qualifying will receive byes in match play. If there is a tie for any position in the standings, a ninth and 10th frame roll-off will be used to determine the higher seed.

Athletes qualifying first through eighth will be seeded into Round 2 of match play. For match play, participants will compete in a three-game total-pin match, with the higher-seeded athlete selecting the starting lane. Athletes will switch lanes after each game of the match and alternate who starts each game. Match play will continue until the four qualifiers for the semifinals are determined. The semifinal and championship matches consist of one game.


TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS
Dayton, Ohio Sectional
North Carolina A&T
SCAD - Savannah
DUQUESNE
Pikeville

Addison, Ill. Sectional
Webber International
Mount Mercy
Louisiana Tech
Maryville

Dallas, Texas Sectional
Wichita State
Stephen F. Austin
Lindenwood
Wisconsin-Whitewater

Smyrna, Tenn. Sectional
McKendree
Maryland Eastern Shore
St. Francis, Ill.
Tennessee Southern