La Crosse, Wis. – The Viterbo University men's and women's bowling teams had a strong second day at the V-Hawk Invitational as they both advanced to the championship round and finished second overall. Individually, the V-Hawks did have the women's individual champion as junior Rachel Schalow (Marshfield, Wis.) won the women's title.

On the women's side, the Lady V-Hawks advanced to the final four bracket tournament after finishing first in the qualifying portion of the tournament. The qualifying round included five individual games and 10 baker games. The V-Hawks finished with a team total of 6,583 which was 201 pins better than Ashford University A team. Viterbo faced Mount Mercy University in the semifinals and advanced to the finals with a 2-0 win. St. Ambrose University defeated Ashford in the semifinal round to face Viterbo in the finals. SAU won the first game but Viterbo tied the series up at 1 apiece. In a thriller match of two great teams, St. Ambrose won the championship with a win in the third and decisive game.

Schalow led the V-Hawks and the tournament from the start as she was the only player to break the 1,000 pin mark. She finished 54 pins ahead of Camryn Simmons of Ashford University. Ashford had the next two individuals as well as Tricia Zimmerman finished third and Brandi Underwood finished fourth. Joining Schalow on the all-tournament as one of the top 5 finishers was teammate Danielle Weyker (Fr. – Plymouth, Wis.). Just missing out on all-tournament honors for the V-Hawks was Sam Willingmyre (Jr. – Gurnee, Ill.) who finished sixth overall.

On the men's side, the V-Hawks advanced to the final four bracket after finishing second in the qualifying portion of the tournament. The men played the exact same format as the women as Viterbo finished second behind St. Ambrose University. As the #2 seed, the V-Hawks faced the #3 seed, St. Ambrose University B team. After losing the first game of the semifinal (199-179), the V-Hawks bounced back with a 191-184 win in game two. The V-Hawks then bowled a great third game (268-209) to advance to the finals. Viterbo then faced Ashford University in the championship match. Unfortunately for the V-Hawks, they could not finish the deal as they lost a thriller to the Saints of Ashford University.

Individually, Kyle Anderson of St. Ambrose University won the individual title with a pin total of 1121. Just 18 pins behind him in second place was teammate Bryan Thompson. Finishing third was Calvin Kramer of St. Ambrose while Winona State's Grant Person finished fourth. Rounding out the all-tournament team as one of the top five individuals was Viterbo's Greg Pizl (Jr. – Antigo, Wis.) who finished fifth. Not too far behind Pizl was teammates Jermaine Dumond (Fr. – Pawtucket, Wis.) and Matt Krueger (Jr. – Green Bay, Wis.) who finished 7th and 8th overall.

This was the first ever tournament hosted by the V-Hawks as it is in just its third season as a varsity program. The V-Hawks will be back in action next when they travel to Dubuque, Iowa on February 11thand 12th for the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships.