Spring Arbor Claims Women's Bowling National Championship

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – Spring Arbor University won the 2025 NAIA Women's Bowling National Championship to claim the first Red Banner in program history at 5 Star Lanes in Sterling Heights, Michigan on Saturday.

The Cougars came out on top in a back-and-forth championship match against Concordia University after a dominant win in the seventh, and deciding, game where SAU posted an incredible 268 – winning the match 268-180 – to capture the title.

Kayla Tafanelli and Devon Thomas were named to the NAIA Women's Bowling All-Tournament Team while Tafanelli was also named the tournament's Most Valuable Player for her outstanding performance throughout the event.

The tournament kicked off Thursday with the 12 teams bowling six Baker sets each to determine the seeding for bracket play. The Cougars collected 4645 pins to earn the No. 8-seed and would be matched up with a familiar foe in Round 1 of head-to-head play – fellow Crossroads League member, and No. 9-seeded, Marian University.

Spring Arbor made quick work of Marian, defeating the Knights 4-1, and advanced to Round 2 where the No. 1-seed SCAD awaited.

Day two of the tournament began with Spring Arbor facing off against SCAD. The Cougars cruised in the first three games of the best-of-seven series, but the defending national champs would not go down without a fight. The Bees won the next three games to force a seventh game where SAU pulled out a 223-191 victory.

In the next round, Spring Arbor would drop the first game against No. 2-seeded Mount Mercy University, who owned the country's No. 1 ranking in the final RPI ratings, but responded by winning four straight games to move on.

The Cougars wrapped up play on Friday with a 4-2 victory over Concordia to punch their ticket to Saturday's championship.

Concordia battled its way back and emerged from the loser's bracket to face off against Spring Arbor for the title. The Cardinals defeated SAU 4-2 to force the "if necessary" match. The winner-take-all match went back-and-forth with Spring Arbor winning games one and three and CUAA winning games two, four and five. With their backs against the wall, the Cougars won game six, 191-170, and punctuated the comeback with a dominant 268-180 win in game seven.