Bowling season ends at Collegiate Nationals
The St. Ambrose men's bowling team ventured to Louisville, Ky., this past week to compete in the season-ending Intercollegiate Championship Tournament.
On Tuesday, freshman Kendric Siders competed in the singles championship tournament. Siders earned a spot by qualifying second at the Fort Worth, Texas, sectional last month. This event brought together 24 men and 24 women from sectional qualifying last month. All bowlers rolled six qualifying games for seeding, with the top eight competitors receiving a first-round bye. Siders qualified in ninth place, and was defeated by the 24th qualifier, Carstin Olson from Hastings University, 561-524.
On Thursday, team competition began. All 16 teams bowled 24 baker games for seeding, and then moved into a double-elimination, best-of-7 baker match-play bracket. St. Ambrose qualified in 13th place with a 24-game baker total of 4689. The top three qualifiers were Webber International, Lawrence Tech and Indiana Tech.
As the No. 13 seed, SAU faced No. 4 seed and defending national champs Wichita State. Last April, Wichita State defeated St. Ambrose in the nationally-televised championship match. Wichita State was in great form, and defeated St. Ambrose 4-0, which dispatched the Bees into the contender's bracket. On Friday morning, they faced No. 12 qualifier Pikeville. SAU won the first two games before Pikeville roared back to claim the last four games to win the match 4-2 and end the Bees' season.
Competing team members were Justin Aboud, Zach Greim, Anthony Mastroianni, Kendric Siders, Devin Richards, Nic Kidd, Lucas Finley and Lucas Hersrud.
The 16th season of St. Ambrose University bowling will begin next August.