GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T's bowlers and bowling coaches gathered together at Triad Lanes on Battleground Avenue on Wednesday to determine who their first-round opponent would be in the NCAA Bowling Championship Tournament, April 7-10.
Watching NCAA.com to determine their foe is a familiar place for the Aggies program. It was their second NCAA Watch Show in four years after they claimed their second Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) championship in four years with a triumph in Chesapeake, Va., on March 21.
What is not familiar are the circumstances that brought them there to stare at the widescreen to find out their first-round opponent is fellow historically black university (HBCU) Prairie View A&M (PVAMU), the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) champion.
A&T is having a historic season. They will go into the NCAA tournament winners of six tournaments. They will go into the tournament with a 55-8 record. They will go into the tournament as the No. 4 ranked team in the nation according to the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) poll.
They will go into the tournament as the No. 3 overall seed, their highest ranking ever.
"It's the testament of all the hard work that we put in this season," A&T coach Kim Terrell-Kearney said. "We've been flipping around at the top all year. We were excited to see our name and to see who we play. Prairie View A&M is a good program."
The Aggies face PVAMU at 9 a.m., Wednesday, April 7, in Kansas City, Mo. The winner moves on to face the winner of Arkansas State and fellow MEAC and HBCU school Delaware State at 3 p.m., Wednesday. For the first time in NCAA bowling history, the bracket includes 16 teams. The NCAA implemented the 16-team field last season, but the coronavirus pandemic led to the tournament's cancelation.
"We had hopes last year," Terrell-Kearney said. "We definitely thought we would get an at-large bid. The ladies are being rewarded for the last couple of years, especially for our seniors getting the opportunity to play."
The two bowlers most familiar with the scene on Wednesday are seniors Cameron Strombeck and Ana Olaya. They were both freshmen when the Aggies received the MEAC's automatic bid in 2018. Both have gone on to have highly decorated careers with multiple all-conference honors.
Olaya was the MEAC rookie of the year in '18, and the MEAC head coaches and sports information directors voted Strombeck the 2021 MEAC bowler of the year. The only thing missing from their careers is a national championship.
"To win a national championship would be a dream come true," said Strombeck. "I grew up watching the men's NCAA basketball tournament and thinking how cool it must be to come out on top in something of that degree. To experience that myself with this team would be nothing short of amazing and deserving with all of the hard work we've put in to prove ourselves this season."
The last time A&T played in the NCAA tournament, they went 1-2 in the double-elimination event as they lost to Arkansas State 2-0 but defeated St. Francis (PA) in an elimination match before being eliminated by Nebraska, 2-0.
The Aggies hope an elimination from the NCAA tournament becomes very unfamiliar next week.
"Winning a national championship is every student-athlete's dream and ultimate goal," said Olaya. "We've accomplished a lot of cool stuff this season, and it would just feel right to close it with a national title."
