Jonesboro, AR – Contributed – Set for an 18th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the No. 3 seed Arkansas State women’s bowling team will play the winner of Saint Vincent and Belmont Abbey in its opening match of the 2026 National Collegiate Women’s Bowling Championship Pittsburgh Regional as announced by the NCAA Wednesday afternoon in its selection show on NCAA.com.
The Red Wolves enter the tournament with a 77-34 record and finished runner-up at the Conference USA Championship last weekend to earn one of nine at-large bids. A-State meets the play-in match winner between Saint Vincent (45-3) or Belmont Abbey (38-43) in the Pittsburgh Regional at 8:00 a.m. (CT) on Friday, April 3. The winner will face either Nebraska (74-35) or Duquesne (62-43).
Joining the Red Wolves in the 19-team field are No. 1 seed Jacksonville State, No. 2 seed Vanderbilt, No. 4 seed Louisiana Tech, Alabama A&M, Belmont Abbey, Bryant, Carroll, Dominican, Duquesne, Fayetteville State, Maryville, Nebraska, Newman, North Carolina A&T, Saint Vincent, Sam Houston, Wichita State, Youngstown State.
The 19 teams are split into four regions – one site with four teams and three sites with five teams each. All regionals are double elimination except for the play-in matches at the sites with five teams. Each round will consist of teams competing in a best-of-three mega-match format, bowled in the following order: traditional team match, Baker total pinfall and best-of-seven Baker match play.
The four regional winners advance to the championship finals at Yorktown Lanes in Parma Heights, Ohio, from Friday, April 10 to Saturday, April 11. The championship final will air at 8 p.m. (CT), Saturday, April 12 on ESPN.
Lansing Regional
1 Jacksonville State
Carroll
Fayetteville State
Youngstown State
North Carolina A&T
Arlington Regional
4 Louisiana Tech
Bryant
Newman
Wichita State
Rochester Regional
2 Vanderbilt
Dominican
Alabama A&M
Maryville
Sam Houston
Pittsburgh Regional
3 Arkansas State
Saint Vincent
Belmont Abbey
Nebraska
Duquesne