Triumphing in a loaded field of 10 top-25 teams, No. 1 Vanderbilt Bowling was crowned the champion of the 2025 Prairie View A&M Invitational. The victory marks the first time in the 2024-2025 season the Commodores have taken home a tournament’s top prize.
Head coach John Williamson talked about winning a regular season tournament after the victory.
“It’s important for lots of reasons,” Williamson said. “We’ve had some opportunities earlier this year to win a tournament and we just didn’t do it. In a field like this, it’s nice to cross the finish line.”
Starting for Vanderbilt to open the competition were Sydney Bohn, Haley Lindley, Kailee Channell, Isabel Allen and Victoria Varano. Bohn, a first-year, has been a key player this season and began the tournament at the lead-off spot.
“She was able to play at a pretty high level,” Williamson said of Bohn. “She was very steady, very consistent. I thought it was good to see because she has a temperament where she’s very centered. She has a strong confidence in herself.”
The Commodores didn’t start off with quite the same level of vigor they would display later in the competition. On opening day, Jan 24, Vanderbilt went a mere 2-3 with losses to No. 5 Arkansas State (1,032-991), No. 2 Jacksonville State (1,046-976) and No. 10 North Carolina A&T (1,037-1,021). Wins came against No. 4 Youngstown State (1,120-1,039) and No. 9 Maryville (1,139-922).
After the first day of competition, the Commodores stood in fourth place by pin average — good enough for a shot at the championship match, but just barely. Vanderbilt kicked it into overdrive on Jan. 25 with a jump in record and pin average. The Commodores went 4-1, their sole loss coming against No. 8 Sam Houston State (1,054-1,044), with wins over No. 14 Duquesne (1,091-1,073), Texas State (1,215-794), No. 3 Nebraska (1,087-1,076) and No. 12 Louisiana Tech (1,094-1,045).
Part of the key to success was Williamson’s willingness to embrace frequent substitutes. Bohn, beginning the tournament in the lead-off position, was swapped to the all-important anchor position and remained there for the duration of the tournament.
“I was like, ‘Wow,’” Bohn said of the switch. “[I thought] ‘Okay. Let’s do this. Let’s make every shot count.’”
More important than wins and losses, Vanderbilt also increased its pin average from 209.9 to 215.5 — shooting the team all the way up to second place entering Sunday. After a 1,038-889 victory over host Prairie View A&M, the Commodores secured their spot in championship contention to enter bracket play.
“One of the problems that we have is [determining] what is the best combination,” Williamson said. “They all have the ability to play. They all have the ability to score. It’s a math problem. Fridays tend to be a little bit of a guessing game.”
Vanderbilt opened the championship bracket with a best-of-seven Baker series against Sam Houston State, and the Commodores were at the top of their game to open the series. In Game One, Vanderbilt overpowered the Bearkats 244-199 with five strikes to start things off. Perhaps using up all their strength in one go, the Commodores fell back down to Earth in Game Two, losing 234-168.
With the series even, the Black and Gold slung together another set of five strikes — this time in the middle frames — to take Game Three. In Game Four, they would have not five, not six, not even seven or eight but nine consecutive strikes to win 247-217. By that point, the Commodores had simply overwhelmed the Bearkats psychologically and materially, and Game Five was over before it even started. By a score of 4-1, the Commodores would advance to the championship round.
“It felt like there was a different team atmosphere this tournament,” Bohn said. “Everyone’s nerves were very calm. It felt like anyone could go in at any time.”
In the championship, Vanderbilt faced reigning national champions Jacksonville State in a showdown of the country’s top-two ranked teams. A close match would not ensue, however, as the Commodores absolutely dominated the Gamecocks from start to finish.
With strikes from the sixth to tenth frames, the Commodores easily won Game One, 246-203. Another streak of four strikes put away Game Two, 229-202. Game Three would prove to be the tightest, but the Commodores still pulled a win out, 211-209, with a streak of five strikes in the middle frames. With a 3-0 series lead, Vanderbilt coasted in Game Four to a 224-196 victory and, with it, took the series without a blemish.
“To win this one is special,” Williamson said. “We acknowledged going in that this would be difficult. Every round would be a grind. There’s not many events where round-to-round anyone can beat you.”
The Commodores would take home more hardware than the championship trophy, as graduate transfer Allen also won the tournament’s most valuable player honors with an astounding average of 240 pins per traditional game. This is Allen’s third all-tournament selection this season and first MVP. Bohn also very nearly made an all-tournament team, missing out because she didn’t play the first two frames to open the traditional matches.
Vanderbilt Bowling will be back in action from Feb. 7-9 when it travels to Lockport, Illinois, for the Storm Flyer Classic.
