PITTSBURGH, PA – The Kutztown University bowling team finished a historic season on Friday afternoon, falling to No. 1 Nebraska and No. 6 Arkansas State to end their 2024-25 campaign at the NCAA Regionals at the AMF Mt. Lebanon Lanes, hosted by Duquesne University.

The Golden Bears were placed in the center of an uphill battle after winning the qualifying match against Fayetteville State. KU opened competition against the nation's best team and the tournament's second seed in Nebraska, falling 2-0, before wrapping things up against reigning NCAA Champion runners-up and sixth-ranked Arkansas State, who also defeated the Bears in two matches.

The Nebraska contest started with a 995-790 win by the Huskers, a traditional match that featured Megan Hanaway (Forked River, N.J./Lacey Township), Sydney Snyder (Morrisville, Pa./Conwell-Egan Catholic), Shelby Wunch (Easton, Md./Easton), Kamryn Brenneman (York, Pa./Central York) and Chloe Sromovski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) in the lineup. Brenneman, the East Coast Conference's Rookie of the Year, rolled a 205-pin game for the highest mark in the opening game. While the quint baker segment was much closer and even had Kutztown leading over the mighty Huskers, it ended in a 989-915 victory for the nation's best team.

The Maroon and Gold were matched against No. 6 Arkansas State after the Red Wolves fell in a 2-1 opening-round match against No. 10 Maryville. KU lost by an 853-806 margin in the opening traditional match, giving the Red Wolves the advantage in the best-of-three matchup. Kutztown put on a strong performance in the quint baker competition, posting higher scores in three of the five games in a do-or-die situation. However, with Kutztown leading by 29 after four games, ASU posted a 205-158 game-five mark to eliminate the Golden Bears by a score of 880-862.

The pair of losses ended an excellent season for the Golden Bears (64-45 overall), as they managed to roll their way to their first East Coast Conference Championship crown while sweeping the conference's individual honors. Coach of the Year Angela Reynolds oversaw a successful season in her fifth year at the helm, and thanks to the performance of Bowler of the Year Chloe Sromovski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) and Rookie of the Year Kamryn Brenneman (York, Pa./Central York), they had one of their most successful seasons in program history.

While the Golden Bears could lose players like Sromovski and Hanaway, their deep lineup led by Wunch, Snyder and Brenneman will be key next season as they look to build on this success at both the conference and national levels.