FAIRFIELD, Conn.—The 2023 Northeast Conference Champions, Sacred Heart women's bowling is set to make the program's ninth appearance in the NCAA tournament. The Pioneers will travel to Rochester, N.Y. to take on Arkansas State in the first round, announced on Wednesday afternoon during the NCAA selection show.

Sacred Heart, ranked #25 in the country, is coming off its sixth conference-leading, sixth NEC championship this past weekend. The Pioneers started the weekend as the fourth seed with a play-in game and took down the top-seeded Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson to become back-to-back conference champions.

The Rochester regional will take place on April 7th- 8th at the Bowl-A-Roll Lanes. To open the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Pioneers will take on Arkansas State, who is ranked third in the country in the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) Top 25 poll.

Sacred Heart and Arkansas State have met four times this season, and the Red Wolves hold a 1-3 advantage through the year.

The Rochester regional also includes North Carolina A&T and Medaille.

The 2023 championship playoff format involves 17 teams playing in groups of four (with five teams competing in Arlington beginning on April 6) at the following regional sites on April 7-8: Pittsburgh, PA, Rochester, NY, Lansing, MI, and Arlington, TX.

Winners of the four regionals will advance to the championship round, which will be held at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas, NV, on April 14-15.

The championship final will air on Saturday, April 15, at 9 p.m. (EST) on ESPNU.

Each match of the double-elimination tournament (not including the play-in), other than the if-necessary regional final match and championship final match, will consist of teams competing in a best-of-three match format, bowled in the following order: five-person team match, Baker total pinfall, and best-of-seven Baker match play.