Avila Bowling to Host First Annual Eagle Invitational

For the first time in the history of the program, the Avila University bowling teams will host a home competition in the greater Kansas City area when Avila welcomes more than a dozen schools from across the country to Aaron’s Family Fun Center in Belton for the first annual Eagle Invitational this weekend.

A testament to the quick growth of a new program, the Eagle Invitational will be Avila bowling’s first true home competition, and it comes in the second semester of the team’s second year of competition. A total of 14 schools will field teams in one or more of the four divisions of competition (men’s varsity, women’s varsity, men’s JV, and women’s JV). In total, a full 12 teams will compete in both men’s and women’s varsity, alongside five men’s JV squads and two women’s JV squads.

Included among the 14 competing schools are all four full-time members of the KCAC [Avila, Ottawa, Saint Mary and Kansas Wesleyan]; teams from NCAA Division I schools Kansas and Kansas State; three squads from Iowa Central, representing the NJCAA; and seven other schools from across the landscape of the NAIA. 

And there’s serious star power among the field as well. Just among the NAIA ranks, this weekend’s field features four men’s teams ranked in the Top 30 of the latest NAIA RPI, and three in the women’s Top 30. USBC’s power rankings factor in teams from all divisions, and this weekend at Aaron’s will showcase six men’s and eight women’s teams (including Avila) that rank in USBC’s Top 100 teams.

The format for the event is fairly standard, and the lane conditions are expected to be challenging. On Saturday, every team will bowl two team games and four sets of four Baker games. On Sunday, teams will bowl the remaining three team games, and all competing teams will be seeded into a single-elimination bracket based on total pinfall from the competition.

Competition will begin at 9 AM on Saturday, January 28 and will finish at approximately 3:30 before resuming at 8:45 AM on Sunday, January 29. All-Tournament teams will be recognized around noon on Sunday, and bracket play will begin at approximately 12:30. Before bracket play begins, Avila Bowling will honor its pair of seniors, Joanne Alibayan and Bailey Stephan, in the team’s first Senior Day ceremony.

As usual, all competing teams are expected to provide live streams for all of their teams’ matches. In addition, the Avila Sports Network will provide live coverage of featured lanes for both the men’s varsity and women’s…