What the Sam Houston Bearkats had hoped to be a long trip to Harahan, Louisiana was cut short as they were upended by the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in the second round of the consolation bracket 4-3.
In a season following their loss to Youngstown State in the regional finals last spring, the Bearkats looked to make a statement in the tournament going in as the No. 3 seed in the country behind McKendree University and the University of Nebraska, according to the NC Bowling rankings.
The Kats had a strong start to the tournament as they handedly defeated the No. 8 Valparaiso Beacons 4-0 in their first match of the weekend to move on in the winner’s bracket.
After that it was all downhill from there.
To finish off day one, the Kats would go on to face the No. 4 Youngstown Penguins in their second match and lose in blowout fashion 4-0 after the initial victory.
The Kats started day two in the loser’s bracket playing against No. 5 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs where they would eventually see their weekend come to an end early after losing 4-3.
They began the match falling down 3-1 but would bounce back to send it to a winner-take-all game seven.
The Bulldogs would come out victorious in the final game and send the Bearkats home early.
The Kats will now await their seed in the NCAA tournament, which will be announced at 3:00 p.m. CT on Wednesday, March 30 and can be seen on NCAA.com.
Depending on their seeding and schedule, the Bearkats will compete in the NCAA regional tournament April 8-9.
The location of the event still has yet to be announced as each region will be determined based on the conference tournament outcomes.
The Bearkats will be playing for a spot in the NCAA Championship pending the results of the regionals April 14-16.