The St. Ambrose women's bowling team enjoyed a successful weekend in Wauwatosa, Wis. Competing in the 53rd Annual Midwest Collegiate Championships, they faced off against 42 teams in the season's first Tier 1 event of the 2024-2025 campaign.

After five traditional team games on Saturday and 16 baker games on Sunday, they qualified fifth in a field of 42 teams to reach the top-8 match play bracket. There, they knocked off No. 5 seed Calumet 2-0, and then toppled top-seeded Mount Mercy in a thriller 2.5-1.5 to advance to the championship match. There, Coe College finished strongly to take the title 2-0, which left SAU with the runner-up placing.

Junior Marissa Bills is off to a hot start to the season. For the second consecutive weekend, she earned all-tournament team honors. This time, she finished fourth overall with a five-game total of 1045. Other team members at the event included Madison Holevoet (995-five games), Maddie Ksobiech (985-five games), Sammy Upham (960-five games), Tricia Alvarado (810-five games), Makenna Verdon, Haven Hospodar and Megan Nyenhuis.

The men's squad also featured prominently in the event. The Bees qualified second in the strong field of 53 teams with a 8846 total pinfall. SCAD-Atlanta led the field with 8846, while Marian-Indiana qualified third with 8641. St. Ambrose escaped its first match with No. 7 seed William Penn by rallying to win the final two games after dropping Game 1. Then, Marian-Indiana eliminated the Bees 2-0 in the semifinals. Marian went on to defeat Webber International in the championship match.

Zach Greim rolled 1158 for his five games on Saturday to finish second in the standings and claim a spot on the all-tournament team. Other team members included Lucas Hersrud (1130-five games), Tommy Burns Jr. (1060-five games), Kendric Siders (822-four games), Kevin Magnuson (791-four games), Tyler Close (167-one game), Logan Boll (142-one game) and Jay Oliva-Colobong.

The next event takes place Oct. 19-20 at the Five Seasons Classic in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.