The St. Ambrose University men's bowling team traveled to Las Vegas, Nev., last week to compete in the Intercollegiate Team Championship Tournament. The Bees punched their ticket to nationals last month at their sectional in Smyrna, Tenn., where they finished second to Wisconsin-Whitewater by just 10 pins. The Bees were one of 16 teams who earned invitations to Las Vegas.

Each team bowled 24 baker games on Thursday, with St. Ambrose earning the No. 4 seed for the double-elimination baker match play finals. The top three qualifiers were Wisconsin-Whitewater, Webber International and Wichita State.

As the No. 4 seed, SAU faced No. 13-seeded William Paterson. In a see-saw match, St. Ambrose stormed back from a 3-2 deficit to escape with a 4-3 win and advanced to face No. 12 seed Lawrence Tech. The Bees raced out to an early lead, and finished with a 4-1 victory to advance to the final 4 in the winner's bracket against top seed and defending national champions Wisconsin-Whitewater. St. Ambrose won that match 4-1 to earn a spot in the bracket final against No. 5 seed and the third-ranked team in the nation Tennessee-Southern. The Bees caught fire early and posted a dominating 4-1 victory to earn a spot on the nationally-televised championship match, and a rematch with Wichita State. In 2021, Wichita State knocked off SAU 3-2 to capture the national championship.

In the championship match, Wichita State got off to a great start, and prevailed over the Bees, who didn't have their best stuff in the title tussle. Wichita State won 3-0 to earn the national championship. That gave the Bees their second national runner-up finish in the past three seasons. They finished the regular season ranked sixth in the power points and fourth in the national coaches poll.

Team members included Zack Denton, Cameron Crowe, William Jones, Jordan Monnens, Justin Aboud, Zach Greim, Ryan Speer and Anthony Mastroianni. Crowe as selected as a member of the All-Tournament Team.