Bracket | Photos
WICHITA, Kan. -- The 13th-seeded University of Pikeville men's bowling team's path to an ITC National Championship will have to come through the loser's bracket after falling to No. 4-seed McKendree (Ill.) 4-3 on Thursday morning in first-round action at Northrock Lanes.
UPIKE led the match against McKendree 3-1, but the Bearcats came roaring back to win three straight games and advance to the ITC second round.
The Bears will meet No. 5-seed Purdue in an elimination match at 9 a.m. ET on Friday.
If they were to keep winning, the Bears could play as many as five matches on Friday before advancing to Saturday's TV finals.
After coming back and avoiding the upset, McKendree went on to lose to No. 12 Wisconsin Whitewater 4-1 and will start play in the second round of the loser's bracket at 10:45 a.m.
The winner between UPIKE and Purdue is set to face No. 8 Calumet (Ind.) at 10:45 a.m. as well.
UPIKE and the Bearcats split the first two games of their best-of-seven series before the Bears went on to take two straight and lead 3-1. UPIKE had multiple chances to put the match away, but missed a few key spares, allowing McKendree to advance to the second round.
