PITTSBURGH – The newly minted East Coast Conference champion Kutztown bowling team will begin its NCAA Women's Bowling Championship push in the Pittsburgh Regionals, where the Golden Bears will face Fayetteville State at the AMF Mt. Lebanon Lanes in the qualifying round of the NCAA Regionals on Thursday, April 3.

The Golden Bears (63-43 overall) claimed one of the two play-in spots in the Pittsburgh region, matching up with the Fayetteville State Broncos (57-12 overall) of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

A win would send them to the double elimination bracket against the region's top seed in Nebraska, the top team in the nation according to the latest rankings released by the National Tenpin Coaches Association. Also competing in Pittsburgh are back-to-back NCAA Championship runners-up Arkansas State, ranked sixth in the nation, and No. 10 Maryville, the back-to-back champion of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Every contest will be in mega-match format, which consists of traditional and quint baker matches that would include a best-of-seven baker tiebreaker, if necessary. 

Kutztown boasts the best of the East Coast Conference, namely ECC Bowler of the Year Chloe Sromovski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) and Rookie of the Year Kamryn Brenneman (York, Pa./Central York), as well as All-ECC Second Team honorees Megan Hanaway (Forked River, N.J./Lacey Township) and Shelby Wunch (Easton, Md./Easton). ECC Coach of the Year Angela Reynolds will be tasked with leading KU against some of the most consistent competition in the nation, starting with Fayetteville State on Thursday, April 3, in Pittsburgh.