No. 3 Vanderbilt Bowling concluded the 2024-25 season by finishing second in the four-team NCAA Regional in Lansing, Michigan. The Commodores fell twice to Wichita State but placed ahead of Fairleigh Dickinson and Felician University.
“I felt like we had a really good opportunity in Lansing and it’s just one of those things that didn’t work out,” head coach John Williamson said after the loss. “The consistent theme of this year has been: We’ve made mistakes at the wrong time.”
Vanderbilt faced off against Fairleigh Dickinson to open the weekend’s festivities. The NCAA Regionals follow a mega-match format in which teams play a traditional match followed by a Baker match. If the teams split the two, a Baker best-of-seven series is then played.
For the opening match, Vanderbilt opted for a starting lineup of Isabel Allen, Victoria Varano, Haley Lindley, Kailee Channell and Sydney Bohn. The Commodores struck first and won the opening set of frames, a feat spearheaded by Varano and Channell with 247 and 220 pins, respectively.
The Commodores dropped the ensuing Baker match 1,002-991 in a down-to-the-wire affair. In the Baker best-of-seven, the Black and Gold started behind the eight-ball, dropping three of the first four games to face a daunting deficit. In Game Five, the Commodores rallied to win 200-178. A groundswell of strikes ensued in the next game, with Vanderbilt coming out on top 220-195. Vanderbilt had its best performance of the day in the winner-take-all Game Seven, winning 257-170.
There would be no comeback in the second mega-match, as Wichita State thoroughly dealt with Vanderbilt in both the Baker and traditional matches. The weekend, however, was not over for the Commodores, as they got another shot at the regional finals after another mega-match with Fairleigh Dickinson.
Vanderbilt never let off the gas in the rematch against the Knights. The traditional match ended with a 1,083-1,010 victory for the Commodores, led by Channell and Lindley, who scored 258 and 243, respectively. Despite a tight match heading into the final Baker game, a 274-pin performance from Vanderbilt blew the contest open and sent the Black and Gold to the regional final for another date with Wichita State.
The Shockers had been getting the best of the Commodores all postseason, and that trend continued in the rematch of destiny. The same starting lineup led the Commodores into the fray, but Wichita State got the better of them once again with a 1,031-928 victory in the traditional match.
The Shockers won the first game of the Baker match, 202-181, but the deficit was erased in the second game by a 202-173 Commodore victory. A narrow 222-213 victory put Wichita State up by one entering the fourth game, where the Shockers expanded the lead with a 215-205 win. Down only 11 pins in the fifth game, Vanderbilt had every opportunity to send the mega-match to a best-of-seven series with a strong performance in the final game.
It did not materialize. Wichita State bested Vanderbilt once again by a score of 232-201, and the Shockers clinched the mega-match 2-0. Wichita State advanced to the Final Four, and Vanderbilt went home in the regional round for the second-straight year since winning it all in 2023.
“Wichita was playing at a fairly high level, so they didn’t give us a whole lot of opportunities to make up for it,” Williamson said. “The line between success and lack of success or failure is so small that you can’t expect to have unforced errors and have that ultimately be ok.”
Through injuries and setbacks, the 2024-2025 season was a tumultuous rollercoaster for the Commodores. The team won both the Prairie View Invitational and the Stallings Invitational behind unforgettable performances from Allen, but the Black and Gold fell short of achieving their perennial national championship aspirations.
“This team was a team of perseverance,” Williamson said. “It just wasn’t enough this year. As the sport continues to grow and more teams come in, advancing to the Final Four should be hard, and it should be an accomplishment. If you’re not playing the best that you can play, in some ways, I hope that you don’t make it, because that means the sport is so much better.”
With the addition of teams like Wichita State and Jacksonville State in the last few seasons, making the Final Four has become even harder. The Commodores accomplished the goal just once in the last four seasons; when they did, they made it count.
Vanderbilt will now get a chance to reflect on the season and look ahead to 2025-26.
