The 2022 championship continued the 16-team format that debuted in the 2021 tournament. However, whereas the 2021 regionals were also contested at the championship site, the 2022 regionals took place at four pre-determined locations:[2]
Each regional was played as a double-elimination tournament. All regional matches, except for what the NCAA calls "if necessary regional finals", were best-of-three matches bowled in the following order: five-person team, Baker total pinfall, Baker best-of-seven match play. Any "if necessary regional final" was Baker best-of-seven. Regional winners advanced to the championship event, which was also double-elimination. All matches were bowled under the standard format for regionals (best-of-three matches using specified formats in a specific order) except the championship final, which was Baker best-of-seven.[3]
Qualification
Since there is only one national collegiate championship for women's bowling, all NCAA bowling programs (whether from Division I, Division II, or Division III) were eligible. A total of 16 teams competed in the double-elimination tournament, with eight conference champions receiving automatic bids and eight teams receiving at-large bids. The teams were revealed in a selection show on March 30, 2022.[2]
Bids
There were 16 teams selected to the tournament - eight were selected automatically as conference champions, while another eight were selected at-large.[2] The top four teams in the tournament were seeded and assigned to separate regions; they were the only teams seeded for this tournament
