KWU Sports Information
Kansas Wesleyan men's bowling is heading to the NAIA National Championships in late March after the Coyotes battled back through the bracket of the NAIA Group Championships held in Belton, Mo., over the weekend.
The NAIA grouping featured teams from the KCAC, GPAC and AMC conferences.
It will be the second trip in the last three years for the Coyotes to the NAIA National Championships, held in Sterling Heights, Mich., at 5 Star Lanes.
The Coyotes qualified fifth after the baker qualifying rounds, heading into bracket play.
KWU first faced Ottawa coming away with a 3-1 win. KWU then faced top seeded Hastings College, and the match went the distance, five games with the Broncos bouncing back from a 2-1 deficit, to win the match 3-2.
The loss dropped KWU into the loser's bracket, but the resilient Coyotes pushed through, first beating Morningside 3-0, then again faced Ottawa, again winning 3-1. KWU then saw Hastings again, this time getting revenge, bouncing back from its own 2-1 deficit to the Broncos, winning the fourth and fifth games in the match to end up in the championship series.
KWU needed to beat Midland twice to claim the title and did just that.
In the first match, KWU got wins in the first, second and fourth games to win 3-1, and won the second match 3-1 again, squeezing out a 180-179 win in the final game to claim the match, and the championship.
NAIA Bowling is in its third year as a National Championship sport. KWU has appeared in two of the three national championship tournaments to date. KWU also participated in the 2018 NAIA National Invitational, before the sport was at championship status.
The NAIA National Championships are March 23-25.