ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. -- Another national title is coming to the University of Pikeville as its women's bowling team won the 2015 NAIA National Invitational with a 3-0 win over Robert Morris (Ill.) on Sunday afternoon at Arlington Lanes.
For the Bears, it's their second win at the NAIA Invite since the event was first held in 2011 as bowling became an emerging sport for the association. UPIKE also won the NAIA title in 2012 and now has four national championships overall, including the 2008 and 2004 Intercollegiate Team Championships.
Sixth-seeded Robert Morris made things interesting on Sunday, handing the top-seeded Bears their first loss of the tournament in the winner's bracket finals 4-2. The win set up a winner-takes-all second matchup between UPIKE and Robert Morris with one loss each in the double-elimination format.
The second time around UPIKE left no doubt, putting together wins of 255-147, 226-160 and 210-158 to be able to stand as the NAIA's top program on the women's side.
KT Simpson was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, as well as earning a spot on the all-tournament team.
Pikeville's No. 11-seed men were also still alive heading into Sunday morning, but lost their first match in the winner's bracket finals to No. 5 St. Ambrose 3-1 and lost again in the consolation bracket to Robert Morris 3-0 to end up in third place overall.
Lucas Hohnstein was named to the all-tournament team after leading the Bears to three straight wins before elimination on Sunday.
There's still plenty more to play for in the 2015 season as both the UPIKE men and women qualified for the Intercollegiate Team Championships on April 15-18 in Wichita, Kan.
