William Penn Finishes One Win Shy of Title Match at NAIA Invite

William Penn University Athletics

by Wade Steinlage

Topeka, Kan.–The Statesmen women’s bowling team went deep into the bracket, but was upended just before having a chance to compete for a national title at the NAIA Invitational Thursday through Saturday.

WPU started well, but fell off the pace in qualifying and wound up fifth out of 12 teams with 4,451 pins in 24 Baker games. Indiana Tech led qualifying with 4,756 pins.

By narrowly missing the top four, the navy and gold were forced to bowl in the first round of the double-elimination bracket tournament. They took advantage of that opportunity to build momentum, however, dropping #12 Grand View 3-1.

WPU then parlayed that win into a 3-1 upset of #4 seed Midland (Neb.) to advance on the championship side of the bracket. Unfortunately, top-seeded ITU dispatched the Statesmen 3-2 and sent them down to the consolation grouping.

William Penn’s confidence did not waver, though, and the squad bounced back, going the same route as it did on the winner’s side of the bracket, eliminating Grand View and Midland, both by scores of 3-1.

The Statesmen had eventual national champion SCAD Savannah (Ga.) on the ropes in the consolation finals with a 2-1 advantage, but could not close the door and were eliminated in third place with a 3-2 score.

Team members included Nicole Craft (Jr., Wakefield, Neb., Physical Education), Abbey Fangman (So., Waterloo, Iowa, Elementary Education), Kaylee Gerken (Sr., Dubuque, Iowa, Elementary Education), Kayla Gifford (Jr., Camanche, Iowa, Biology), Jaelynn Klein (Fr., Muscatine, Iowa, Communications), Nicole Mottier (So., Madison, Wis., Computer Science), Amber Ovel (Sr., Waterloo, Iowa, Psychology), and Bailey Palmer (Jr., Ottumwa, Iowa, Biology).