HARAHAN, La. – The No. 6 Louisiana Tech women's bowling team will have a chance to punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday after the Lady Techsters made it through the first four rounds of the Southland Bowling League Tournament at the Colonial Bowling Lanes in Harahan, La., on Friday and Saturday.
 
"We never give up," head coach Matt Nantais said. "We came out focused today and supported each other no matter what happened. Everything was one frame at a time. I tried to get out of every match in two games so we didn't have to go to a best-of-seven. Arkansas State has eliminated us every year, so to get past them this year was a pretty big hurdle."
 
The second-seeded Lady Techsters opened the tournament with a 2-1 victory over No. 7 seed Stephen F. Austin on Friday. Louisiana Tech won the traditional match, 1,055-992. Four Lady Techsters knocked down over 200 pins in the match, led by senior Kaitlyn Eder with 231.
 
Tech and SFA ended the five Baker game contest tied at 961-961, so the teams played a sixth game which Stephen F. Austin won, 105-93, to tie the match at 1-1. The match was decided in a best-of-seven Baker game contest which LA Tech won, 4-3 (213-247, 234-213, 224-200, 266-185, 197-257, 170-258, 238-208).
 
Louisiana Tech then lost, 2-0, to third-seeded Vanderbilt as the Commodores won the traditional game, 1,004-954, and the Baker games, 1,103-1,072.
 
LA Tech had a familiar Saturday morning matchup as the Lady Techsters again opened the day facing seventh-seeded Stephen F. Austin in an elimination round. This time, however, LA Tech swept SFA, 2-0. Louisiana Tech started off with a 994-979 traditional match victory over the Ladyjacks. Sophomore Danielle Jedlicki led LA Tech individually in the traditional contest after registering 243 total pins. Tech then defeated SFA, 999-930, in the five Baker games to clinch the match victory.
 
Louisiana Tech ended Saturday's rounds by taking on top-seeded Arkansas State. The traditional match was decided by just three pins as the Lady Techsters defeated the Red Wolves, 1,007-1,004. Sophomore Allie Leiendecker and senior Ashley Channell played key roles in the victory after knocking down 244 and 205 total pins, respectively. Tech then won the Baker games by over 200 pins, 1,094-893, to clinch a spot in the Sunday morning round.  
 
The Lady Techsters will next face No. 5 seed Sam Houston State on Sunday at 8 a.m. (CT). The winner of the match will then take on Vanderbilt in a battle for the championship. Vanderbilt is undefeated at the SBL Tournament and must be defeated twice for the title as it is a double-elimination tournament.
 
"Tomorrow is not going to be easy, but no match in this conference is," Nantais said. "All of the teams are high quality. We will have to come out with the same energy and focus that we did today so we have a chance at the championship tomorrow. Practice starts at 7:30 a.m., so it's going to be another early morning but we get up every morning for workouts so we're used to it. We're hoping to bring home our first conference championship tomorrow. That is our goal."
 
The winner of the 2021 Southland Bowling League Tournament will be granted an automatic berth in the 2021 NCAA Bowling Championship. The NCAA Women's Bowling Committee will select a field of 16 teams for the NCAA championship - six automatic qualifiers and 10 at-large teams. The 2021 NCAA Bowling Championship will be a double-elimination tournament, featuring 16 teams.
 
Selections for the 2021 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship will be announced on Wednesday, March 31, via web stream at 3 p.m. on NCAA.com. The 2021 championship will be hosted April 7-10 at the AMF Pro Bowl Lanes in North Kansas City, Mo.
 
To watch the Lady Techsters in action this weekend and throughout the season, subscribe to the LA Tech Bowling channel on YouTube and follow @LATechBowl on both Twitter and Facebook for updates, results and breaking news. Each round of the 2020 Southland Bowling League Tournament will also be streamed live on YouTube on the InsideBowling page.