Photo courtesy of Sacred Heart Athletics Communications For the eighth time in program history, the Sacred Heart University women’s bowling team is headed to the NCAA Tournament.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — For the eighth time in program history, the Sacred Heart University women’s bowling team is headed to the NCAA Tournament. During Wednesday’s selection show the Pioneers learned they will take on a familiar foe in the first round of the Rochester Regional as they’ll face Fairleigh Dickinson on April 8.

The competition will take place at the Bowl-A-Roll Lanes with Roberts Wesleyan College serving as the host. The winner of the Pioneers and Knights gets the winner of the number two seed Nebraska and Wilmington.

Sacred Heart went 3-2 against FDU this season. The Pioneers, who have Dunkirk native Rachel Glowniak on the roster, fell most recently to the Knights in March in a tight one-point decision, 985-984, in baker play. Two of the five meeting were in non-conference tournaments at the Prairie View Invitational and the Northeast Classic. At the classic, SHU topped FDU, 1,006-941, before falling, 964-878, in Texas.

The tournament includes 16 teams, eight of which received automatic through their conference championships. The other eight were selected at-large and include two Northeast Conference teams in Fairleigh Dickinson and Mount St. Mary’s.

Regional competition is an NCAA-first this season and will take place at Rochester, N.Y., Erie, Pa., Arlington, Texas and Lansing, Mich. The winners of each regional will move on to the championship on April 15-16 at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl in Columbus, Ohio.

Both the regional and the championship rounds are double-elimination, with each round consisting of a best-of-three match that includes the use of three game formats – baker total pin fall, five-person team match and a best-of-seven baker match play.