BELLEVILLE, Ill.— The Drury women's bowling team won their quarterfinal match but were knocked into the consolation bracket in the semis by number one ranked McKendree on the first day of competition at the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship tournament at the Bel-Air Bowl in Belleville, Illinois.
 
The three-day event featured double-elimination action, with each match decided with a traditional single-game total, a five-game Baker Format total, and best-of-seven Baker Format, if necessary.
 
The Panthers, seeded fourth, got past fifth-seeded Lewis in the opening round 2-0, winning the traditional match 872-832. Madison Smith posted a score of 200 to start the match. Drury then outscored the Flyers 857-834 to advance to the semifinals with a 2-0 series win.
 
McKendree, the number one ranked team in the NCAA coaches' poll and the top seed in the GLVC tournament, swept Drury 2-0 to send the Panthers to the consolation bracket. The Bearcats won the traditional match 1,069-986, then won the best-of-five Baker match to advance.
 
Drury will take on sixth-seeded Upper Iowa at 8:30 am on Saturday in an elimination round match-up.
 
This weekend's event is the first-ever GLVC bowling championship. The pandemic canceled last year's postseason in the inaugural season of bowling in the conference. Before the 2019-20 season, Drury was a Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association member in women's bowling. 
 
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