The Penn State women's bowling team finished in third place last weekend at the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships held in Wichita, Kansas.

This was the first time Penn State made it to the final four since 1979 when it won the title.

"I knew us as a team were good but other teams might not have expected us to finish third. We kinda surprised everyone," bowling team member Emily Jacoberger said.

After falling into the loser's bracket Friday, Penn State prevailed to set up a rematch against Western Illinois, the team that handed it a loss in the second round. Western Illinois also knocked Penn State out of the tournament two years ago.

This time, Penn State delivered the payback and handed Western Illinois its first loss in tournament play, allowing the team to advance to the semifinals.

"Anybody can beat anybody on any given day," Penn State's Laurel Harris said. "We put that into each match that we played and stayed positive."

On Saturday, Penn State fell to McCandry College, 4-2, finishing third in the tournament.

"Going against some girls that are fully sponsored, as a club sport, they performed very well. I'm so proud of them," head coach Dennis Harris said.

After qualifying for nationals during the sectional tournament held in Allentown in March, Penn State was ranked No. 13 in the 16-team tournament after Thursday. In that "baker play" round, teams played 32 games to decide seeding.

Friday began the double elimination round. Penn State started off the day by knocking off the defending champions, Lindenwood, in a best four-out-of-seven match.

A second-round loss to Western Illinois knocked them into the losers bracket, where they defeated intrastate rival Shippensburg. After the win, Penn State matched up with bowling powerhouse Pikeville College, which had both the Bowler of the Year and Rookie of the Year on its roster.

The team has high hopes for next year with no seniors on the roster and all seven members expected to return.

"As for next year, we're just gonna try our best and take it one match at a time," Harris said.