LORETTO, Pa. - The Saint Francis University bowling team has canceled their trip to the Columbia 300 Music City Classic tournament in Smyrna, Tenn., head coach Ashley Bingham announced late last week.

The tournament, hosted by No. 4 Vanderbilt at the Smyrna Bowling Center, was set to be the final regular season tournament for the Red Flash (47-52, 11-10 NEC). The Music City Classic is set to be one of the biggest tournaments of the season, as it will attract some of the top teams in the nation when competition takes place on Mar. 15-17. 

WHAT LIES AHEAD
Instead, the Red Flash will turn their attention to preparing for the Northeast Conference Championship against No. 16 Merrimack in the play-in round. The Warriors enter the conference postseason tournament as the fourth seed, while the Red Flash claimed the fifth and final seed after three regular-season conference tournaments. The winner of the match will get the final spot in the double-elimination round, where they will open play against NEC regular-season champion Duquesne. No. 2 Sacred Heart and No. 3 Fairleigh Dickinson round out the five-team conference postseason field that will compete throughout the weekend in hopes of claiming the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Regional Tournament.

REGULAR SEASON RECAP
With the announcement, the Red Flash officially cap their regular season with a 47-52 mark that included 11 conference wins for the first time since 2019. The Frankies made noise in defeating many top-ranked opponents along the way, opening the season with a 939-913 victory over No. 3 Nebraska at the MOTIV Penguin Classic, which they followed with a conference-opening win over No. 11 Duquesne, their first victory over the Dukes since 2019. Saint Francis was the only program in the country to go undefeated in multiple attempts against reigning national champion Vanderbilt, as they defeated the nation's No. 1 team 1053-999 at the UMES Hawk Classic and duplicated their success against the Commodores with a 761-722 win at the Northeast Classic in January.

Their best outing came at the 6th Annual Mount Shootout, where they defeated No. 4 North Carolina A&T and No. 13 Mount St. Mary's on their way to a sixth-place finish.

The Red Flash received votes from the National Tenpin Coaches Association in three of the four polls released throughout the season. The Frankies finished conference play with a winning record for the first time under fourth-year head coach Ashley Bingham.

FOLLOW US
The Northeast Conference Championships begin on Mar. 22, with No. 4 Merrimack taking on the fifth-seeded Red Flash in a single-elimination mega-match on Friday at Hamilton Lanes in Hamilton, N.J. The Northeast Conference Championship matches will be broadcast live on NEC Front Row, the Northeast Conference's official broadcasting service.

For more information on the Red Flash, visit sfuathletics.com and follow RedFlashBowling on Facebook, Instagram, and X.