2026 NCAA Bowling Championship
 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | April 10–11, 2026 |
| Teams | 19 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Jacksonville State (2nd title) |
| Runners-up | Wichita State (1st title match) |
The 2026 NCAA Bowling Championship was the 22nd edition of the NCAA Bowling Championship, the annual tournament to determine the national champion of women's NCAA collegiate ten-pin bowling.[1] The finals were hosted by the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and played at the Yorktown Lanes in Parma Heights, Ohio from April 10 to 11, 2026.[2] The championship game was streamed live on ESPNU.[3] Jacksonville State defeated Wichita State in the championship game to win its second title.[3][4]
Format
The 2026 championship featured a 19-team format, with 4 regionals. One regionals had four teams, while three had five, with play-in matches between Carroll and Fayetteville State in Lansing, Michigan, Dominican (NY) and Alabama A&M in Rochester, New York, and Belmont Abbey and Saint Vincent in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Each region had one winner who would go on to play in a four-team tournament for the national championship.[2] The 2026 pre-determined regional locations were as follows:
Each regional was played as a double-elimination tournament, except for the three play-in matches. All regional matches, except for what the NCAA calls "if necessary regional finals", were best-of-three matches bowled in the following order: five-person team, Baker total pinfall, Baker best-of-seven match play. Any "if necessary regional final" was Baker best-of-seven. Regional winners advanced to the championship event, which was also double-elimination. All matches were bowled under the standard format for regionals (best-of-three matches using specified formats in a specific order) except the championship final, which was Baker best-of-seven.[2]
Qualification
Since there is only one national collegiate championship for women's bowling, all NCAA bowling programs (whether from Division I, Division II, or Division III) were eligible. A total of 19 teams competed in the double-elimination tournament, with 11 conference champions receiving automatic bids and eight teams receiving at-large bids. The teams were revealed in a selection show on March 25, 2026.[2]
Bids
There were 19 teams selected for the tournament - 11 were selected automatically as conference champions, while another eight were selected at-large. The top four teams in the tournament were seeded and assigned to separate regions; they were the only teams seeded for this tournament.[2]
Conference USA (CUSA) had the most bids of any conference with eight, while the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) had two. The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC), Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC), College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW), Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), East Coast Conference (ECC), Conference Carolinas/Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), Northeast Conference (NEC), and Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) sent only their conference tournament champions.[5]
| Seed | Team | Conference | Bid type | Appearance | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacksonville State | CUSA | Automatic | 3rd | 2025 |
| 2 | Vanderbilt | CUSA | At-large | 20th | 2025 |
| 3 | Arkansas State | CUSA | At-large | 18th | 2025 |
| 4 | Louisiana Tech | CUSA | At-large | 6th | 2025 |
| Alabama A&M University | SWAC | Automatic | 4th | 2014 | |
| Belmont Abbey | GMAC | Automatic | 3rd | 2025 | |
| Bryant | ECC | Automatic | 1st | Never | |
| Carroll | CCIW | Automatic | 1st | Never | |
| Dominican (NY) | CACC | Automatic | 1st | Never | |
| Duquesne | NEC | Automatic | 4th | 2024 | |
| Fayetteville State | CIAA | Automatic | 5th | 2025 | |
| Maryville | GLVC | At-large | 4th | 2025 | |
| Nebraska | CUSA | At-large | 22nd | 2025 | |
| Newman | GLVC | Automatic | 1st | Never | |
| North Carolina A&T | MEAC | Automatic | 8th | 2025 | |
| Saint Vincent | AMCC | Automatic | 2nd | 2025 | |
| Sam Houston | CUSA | At-large | 14th | 2025 | |
| Wichita State | CUSA | At-large | 2nd | 2025 | |
| Youngstown State | CUSA | At-large | 6th | 2025 |
Tournament bracket
All regions were double-elimination, except for the finals, which was double-elimination before a single Baker best-of-7 championship match.[6]
Lansing Regional
Play-in
| Play-in match | ||||
| Carroll | 2 | |||
| Fayetteville State | 1 | |||
Bracket
| First round Consolation first round | Second round Consolation second round | Regional final | |||||||||||||
| 1 | Jacksonville State | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Carroll | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Jacksonville State | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Winner's bracket | |||||||||||||||
| North Carolina A&T | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Youngstown State | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| North Carolina A&T | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Jacksonville State | 2 | - | ||||||||||||
| North Carolina A&T | 0 | - | |||||||||||||
| Carroll | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Youngstown State | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Youngstown State | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Loser's bracket | |||||||||||||||
| North Carolina A&T | 2 | ||||||||||||||
Rochester Regional
Play-in
| Play-in match | ||||
| Dominican (NY) | 2 | |||
| Alabama A&M | 0 | |||
Bracket
| First round Consolation first round | Second round Consolation second round | Regional final | |||||||||||||
| 2 | Vanderbilt | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Dominican (NY) | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Vanderbilt | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Winner's bracket | |||||||||||||||
| Sam Houston | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Maryville | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Sam Houston | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Vanderbilt | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Maryville | 2 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Dominican (NY) | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Maryville | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Maryville | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Loser's bracket | |||||||||||||||
| Sam Houston | 1 | ||||||||||||||
Pittsburgh Regional
Play-in
| Play-in match | ||||
| Saint Vincent | 1 | |||
| Belmont Abbey | 2 | |||
Bracket
| First round Consolation first round | Second round Consolation second round | Regional final | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Arkansas State | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Belmont Abbey | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Arkansas State | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Winner's bracket | |||||||||||||||
| Nebraska | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Nebraska | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Duquesne | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Arkansas State | 2 | - | ||||||||||||
| Nebraska | 1 | - | |||||||||||||
| Belmont Abbey | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Duquesne | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Duquesne | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Loser's bracket | |||||||||||||||
| Nebraska | 2 | ||||||||||||||
Arlington Regional
| First round Consolation first round | Second round Consolation second round | Regional final | |||||||||||||
| 4 | Louisiana Tech | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Bryant | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | Louisiana Tech | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Winner's bracket | |||||||||||||||
| Newman | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Wichita State | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Newman | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | Louisiana Tech | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Wichita State | 2 | 4 | |||||||||||||
| Bryant | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Wichita State | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Wichita State | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Loser's bracket | |||||||||||||||
| Newman | 0 | ||||||||||||||
Finals
Parma Heights, Ohio
| First round Consolation first round | Second round Consolation second round | Championship final | |||||||||||||
| 1 | Jacksonville State | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Wichita State | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Jacksonville State | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Winner's bracket | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | Vanderbilt | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 2 | Vanderbilt | 2 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Arkansas State | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 1 | Jacksonville State | 4 | |||||||||||||
| Wichita State | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Wichita State | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Arkansas State | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Wichita State | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Loser's bracket | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | Vanderbilt | 1 | |||||||||||||
References
- ↑ "NC Bowling Championship History". NCAA.com. National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved May 6, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship field announced". NCAA.com. National Collegiate Athletic Association. March 25, 2026. Retrieved May 6, 2026.
- 1 2 "Jax State wins 2026 NC bowling championship". National Collegiate Athletic Association. April 11, 2026. Retrieved May 6, 2026.
- ↑ "Gamecocks Claim Second NCAA Bowling Title in Three Years". Jacksonville State Athletics. Jacksonville State University. April 11, 2026. Retrieved May 6, 2026.
- ↑ "A-State Punches Ticket to Cleveland for NCAA Championship". Arkansas State Athletics. Arkansas State University. April 4, 2026. Retrieved May 6, 2026.
- ↑ "2026 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship Regional Brackets" (PDF). NCAA.com. National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved May 6, 2026.