Collegiate Ticker - Jan. 17, 2018

The second half of the 2017-2018 United States Bowling Congress Collegiate season is underway with postseason play as a common goal, and the Mount Mercy women and Robert Morris-Illinois men got things going with wins last weekend at the Eagles Baker Challenge.

The 2018 edition of the Eagles Baker Challenge was held at Stardust Bowl in Addison, Illinois, and featured 25 varsity women's teams and 20 varsity men's teams. Qualifying included 10 sets of four Baker games to determine the top eight teams in each division for match play. The bracket featured a best-of-five Baker format to determine the winners.

The Mount Mercy women entered the tournament as the defending champions and found their stride in match play after qualifying seventh. The Mustangs swept No. 5 Robert Morris-Illinois in the title match, 3-0, to collect the title for the fourth time in five years.

Mount Mercy also swept No. 3 St. Ambrose to advance to the championship round, while Robert Morris-Illinois eliminated top qualifier, Lindenwood, 3-0.

On the men's side, Robert Morris-Illinois set the early pace in qualifying to earn the top seed for bracket play. The Eagles averaged better than 217 throughout match play on their way to the win, which was capped off with a 3-1 title-match victory against No. 7 Grand View.

Robert Morris-Illinois swept No. 5 Calumet in the semifinals, while Grand View recorded a 3-1 win against No. 3 Lindenwood.

-In other USBC Collegiate action over the weekend:

- At the Mid-Winter Invitational in Jonesboro, Arkansas, the McKendree women swept top-seeded Nebraska in the title match, 4-0.

- At the Jayhawk Great Lakes Classic in Muskegon, Michigan, the Highland men and Ancilla women rolled to the top spots.

- At the Southwest Intercollegiate Bowling Conference No. 5 and 6 in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Newman women and men put together strong performances to sweep both events.

- At the Devil's Duel Invitational and Antelope Shoot Out in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Arizona State men cruised to a pair of victories.

- At the Buckeye Baker Classic in Columbus, Ohio, the Pikeville women and Huntington men worked their way through their respective brackets to collect wins.

- At the Peach State Classic in Athens, Georgia, the Webber International men and Emmanuel women each topped their divisions by more than 600 pins on the way to victories.

- At the Viking Classic in Wallingford, Connecticut, the Molloy women and Suffolk men posted the top scores.

The first USBC Collegiate event of 2018 was the Saints Classic in Newport, Kentucky, on Jan. 6-7. The Louisville men and Bellarmine women recorded victories.

For complete results, visit BOWL.com/Collegiate or click here for January results. To view the Team Power Rankings, visit collegebowling.com.