The Southland Bowling League (SBL) is a

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA)

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

-only conference. The SBL was founded in 2015 for schools that sponsor women's bowling teams, but do not have bowling sponsored by their primary conferences. The SBL champion has received an automatic bid to the

NCAA Bowling Championship The NCAA Bowling Championship is a sanctioned women's championship in college athletics. Unlike many NCAA sports, only one National Collegiate championship is held each season with teams from Division I, Division II, and Division III competing ...

since the NCAA first awarded such bids in 2018. While the conference operates independently, administrative services are provided by the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

. The SBL has received at least three bids to the NCAA Championship in each season since it began play in 2015. Following the inaugural SBL Championship, four league teams (Arkansas State, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, and Vanderbilt) received at-large bids to the 2015 NCAA Championships, filling half of the eight available spots. The same four teams would receive at-large bids to the 2016 NCAA Bowling Championships and 2017 NCAA Bowling Championships. In 2018, the first year for automatic bids to the NCAA Championship and also the first year for a 10-team championship event, Vanderbilt earned the automatic bid and Arkansas State and Sam Houston State received at-large bids. In 2019, Sam Houston State earned the automatic bid, while Arkansas State, Stephen F. Austin, and Vanderbilt received at-large bids. In 2021, Vanderbilt earned the automatic bid, while Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston State, and Youngstown State received at-large bids. In 2022, six of the eight members made the NCAA Bowling Championships field with Vanderbilt earning the automatic bid, while Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, and Youngstown State all receiving at-large bids. In July 2021, it was announced that Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin left the Southland for the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to most of t ...

. After the two schools announced they would join the WAC in fall 2022, they were expelled by the Southland Conference and joined the WAC a year ahead of the originally planned schedule. Despite leaving the Southland Conference in all other sports, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin remained in the SBL and both participated in the 2022 SBL Bowling Championships.

Members

On August 7, 2018, Southland Bowling League and Youngstown State University announced that Youngstown State's bowling program was joining the league for competition beginning in the 2018–2019 season. Youngstown State replaces Monmouth, who accepted an invitation to join the MEAC. ;Notes

Former members

SBL Championship

All-Tournament Teams

NCAA Bowling Championship participation

''Source:'' Arkansas State – 2008 Runner-up, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 Runner-up, 2022 Louisiana Tech – 2021, 2022 Sam Houston State – 2011, 2013, 2014 Champion, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 Stephen F. Austin – 2015 Runner-up, 2016 Champion, 2017, 2019 Champion, 2022 Runner-up Valparaiso – 2012 Vanderbilt – 2006, 2007 Champion, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Runner-up, 2012, 2013 Runner-up, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Champion, 2019 Runner-up, 2021, 2022 Youngstown State – 2021, 2022

References