PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio — Vanderbilt bowling ended its 2025-26 season at the National Collegiate Bowling Championship with a heartbreaking 2-1 mega-match loss to Wichita State.
“I thought we had opportunities there,” head coach John Williamson said. “I thought we kept applying pressure and making shots in the best of seven, but ultimately, they kept making shots too. It was a high-scoring game, and there weren’t a lot of mistakes on either side. If we had a couple more breaks, made a couple more shots, we could have won that match 4-1 instead of losing 4-2. But that’s sports and that’s life. We played well enough to win but just didn’t.”
Vanderbilt got off to a hot start in the traditional game behind a balanced attack from all Commodores in the lineup. Avery Domaguin led the Dores with a 260 score, striking eight times in a row to end the game. Sydney Bohn, Katelyn Abigania and Alyssa Ballard tallied respective scores of 222, 220 and 216. Victoria Varano and Natalie Kent combined to contribute a 189 for Vandy. The Dores won the traditional point, 1,106-1,027.
The Commodores got off to a slow start in the five-game Baker set, dropping game 1, 226-184. Vanderbilt recovered to shoot 224 in game 2, but Wichita State posted a score of 226 to add to its lead. The Shockers won the Baker set by a score of 1,037-992 to force the tiebreaker.
In the best-of-seven, both teams posted high scores and the margin for error was slim. Vandy once again started off strong, winning the first game, 225-212. After winning game 2, 225-224, Wichita State took the next two games by respective scores of 247-235 and 256-244 to take a 3-1 advantage. The Commodores battled back to defeat the Shockers in game 5, 274-200. Ultimately, the Dores would come up short, dropping the final game, 269-207.
“I thank Alyssa and Victoria and all the alumni who came through the program,” Williamson concluded. “You’re still Vanderbilt people and mean a lot to us. I think the future is bright for the group coming back, so I’m excited to watch.”
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