Freshman Kendric Siders and fifth-year senior Cameron Crowe led the St. Ambrose men's bowling team to victory in the season's first Tier 1 event in Wauwatosa, Wis., this past weekend. Competing at the 52nd annual Midwest Collegiate Championships, the men rebounded from a tough loss last weekend in the season opener to take home the title match.

A field of 47 teams squared off, with the Bees finding themselves in second place after six team games on Saturday. In Sunday's baker competition, St. Ambrose remained in the top five all day before eventually earning the No. 2 seed heading into the eight-team baker elimination match play finals. There, they eliminated a talented No. 7 seed Lawrence Tech 2-0. Lawrence Tech is currently the top-ranked team in the nation. In the semifinals, SAU rebounded from an opening loss to win two straight to claim the match 2-1 against Concordia University to advance to the championship bout against No. 3 seed Saint Xavier, which knocked off top-seeded Webber International in the semifinals. The Bees won the first game, before the two teams deadlocked in Game 2. That put SAU up 1.5 - 0.5 heading into Game 3, which the Bees won to claim the match 2.5 - 0.5.

Head Coach Eric Littig said, "Everyone contributed; this was a true team win. Every bowler stepped up when they needed to."

Tier 1 events carry double points for national rankings and attract larger fields with many of the top-ranked teams in college bowling competing.

The Midwest Collegiate Championships is one of the oldest and most coveted team titles in collegiate bowling, and this marked the first year the men's program has captured that championship. The SAU women claimed this tournament title back in 2017. This season's men's squad features one of the youngest varsity teams in collegiate competition with five freshmen. This is the fifth Tier 1 victory for St. Ambrose in the past four seasons.

Kendric Siders was the Bees top player on Saturday, averaging 226 and totaling 1359 for his six games, which placed him sixth in the men's final standings. Other team members were Cameron Crowe (1324-six games), Devin Richards (869-four games), Zach Greim (711-four games), Justin Aboud (692-three games), Lucas Finley (611-three games), Lucas Hersrud (592-three games), and Pedro Irizarry (181-one game).

The St. Ambrose women's team staged an impressive rally late on Sunday to qualify for the eight-team match play finals bracket. Heading into Sunday's baker finals, the ladies found themselves in 12th place, 168 pins behind eighth place. They continued to remain in 12th before staging a final 818 set which included a 265, and that was enough to propel them into the eighth spot.

That late surge set up a match with top-seeded Webber International University. After trading wins in the opening two contests, Webber staged a big finish to seal the match 2-1, which eliminated the SAU squad. The top three seeds were Webber (9072), Mount Mercy (8716) and Wisconsin-Whitewater (8682). SAU's pinfall total was 8438. Wisconsin-Whitewater would go on to defeat Webber to claim the championship.

Team members were Marissa Bills (1137-six games), Kayla Devine (1063-six games), Erin Williams (1049-six games), Noelle Phillips (949-five games), Tricia Alvarado (650-four games), Amanda Bohn (561-three games), Sammy Upham and Madison Holevoet.

St. Ambrose will take a weekend off before traveling to Wichita for another Tier 1 event - the Mid-States Championship on Oct. 21-22.