Huskers prepare for first round of Pittsburgh Regional

Pittsburgh, Pa. - The Nebraska Bowling team will play Duquesne in the first round of the NCAA Pittsburgh Regional on Friday morning at AMF Mt. Lebanon Lanes.

The fourth-ranked Huskers enter the regional with a 74-35 regular-season record, having one tournament victory and six top-five finishes this season.

Nebraska opens tournament action on Friday at 8 a.m. (central) when the Big Red and the Dukes face off in a mega-match. The other 8 a.m. match features Arkansas State, the No. 3 overall seed and the top seed in this Pittsburgh Regional, and Belmont Abbey, which defeated Saint Vincent Thursday morning.  The winners and losers from Friday morning will meet Friday at 1:30 p.m. in the double-elimination format.  Competition will continue Saturday, April 4 at 8 a.m. (central) with the semifinal before the regional championship starts at 1:30 p.m. (central).

Live video for the regionals can be found on BowlTV.com. Live scoring can be accessed through the Lanetalk app by searching for AMF Mt. Lebanon Lanes.

The Huskers are led by a pair of All-Conference USA performers in Jillian Martin and Karina Capron.  Martin was a first-team pick by the conference coaches, while Capron was a third-team honoree. In addition, Haley Swindle is coming off a conference championship where she led the team in both total pinfall (1,143) and average (228.6) in traditional play.

This will be the second-consecutive year the Huskers have played in the Pittsburgh Regional, advancing to the NCAA Finals in Las Vegas last season after defeating Maryville 2-1 in the regional final. The Scarlet and Cream went 3-0 during that regional, finishing with a total pinfall of 8,098 and an average of 195.13. They were led by Kayla Starr, who had an individual pinfall of 608 over three games, averaging 202.67.

The NCAA regionals will use the Mega Match format which includes a five-game total-pinfall baker match and a traditional team match. The first team to collect two games wins the match, and in the event of a 1-1 tie, a best-of-seven baker match will be used to determine a mega-match winner. The regionals will feature a double-elimination format with one winner from each of the four regionals advancing to the NCAA Championship in Parma Heights, Ohio on April 10-11 at Yorktown Lanes.

A Look at the First Match:

The Huskers and the Dukes split both meetings this season, both coming in five-game baker matches. Duquesne won the first matchup at the Northeast Classic by a score of 874-861 on Jan 16.  Nebraska got its revenge in the Stallings Invitational by a score of 1,178-831 on Feb. 27. The Dukes went 59-43 during the regular season and are ranked No. 23 in the RPI on March 16.

Stay up to date with the action by following the Nebraska Women's Bowling X (@HuskerBowling), Instagram (@huskerbowling) and Facebook.

NCAA Regional Matchups:

Region 1: Lansing, Mich.

- No. 1 Jacksonville State

- Carroll/Fayetteville State

- Youngstown State

- North Carolina A&T

Region 2: Rochester, N.Y.

- No. 2 Vanderbilt

- Dominican/Alabama A&M

- Maryville

- Sam Houston

Region 3: Pittsburgh, Pa.

- No. 3 Arkansas State

- Saint Vincent/Belmont Abbey

- Nebraska

- Duquesne

Region 4: Arlington, Texas

- No. 4 Louisiana Tech

- Bryant

- Wichita State

- Newman