04/20/2026
Club Championships – Rockford, Illinois
The Spartans bowled in the final event of the season, the Club Championships in Rockford, Illinois. Both the Men’s and Women’s teams qualified for this event, which was open to only programs that do not offer scholarships to their players.
The format of the tournament is 24 Men’s teams and 12 Women’s teams and seeded into pools of 6 teams each. Pool match play is a 4 game series against the other team, the top two teams with the best record get a bye into the 2nd round of a double elimination bracket. The Bracket is best 3 of 5 match in the winners side and best 2 of 3 in the contenders side.
The Lady Spartans were able to win 2 of their pool matches to be the 4th seed from their pool. Their first match was against Illinois State. They started well winning the first 2 games, but could not sustain the momentum and ultimately lost the match 3-2. The next day put them in the Contenders bracket against University of Texas San Antonio, they were not able to capitalize on opportunities they got and lost the match 0-2. It was a good tournament and they fought till the end. Congratulations to Seniors Annemarie Garcia and Kailey Mori for their four year career leading the Women’s team and helping support the program.
The Spartan Men began their pool match play by beating the Univ. of Wisconsin Milwaukee and UNLV. Next up was William Patterson University. The Men were down by 30 pins going into the 4th and final game. They shot a big 230 game to win that match by 11 pins. Next up was fellow West Coast team, Arizona State. Both teams were 3-1 going into the final match of the pool, the winner would be assured of a bye in the first round of the bracket. The Spartans took an early lead and never looked back winning their 4th pool play match. As it turned out that record gave them the top seed in the pool and giving them a bye in the first round.
In the bracket play the Spartans took on Penn State-Parks in the first round, which saw them trade wins for the first 4 games each rolling games in the 160s and 150s. With the match tied at 2-2 the Spartans pulled out a huge 257 game to take the match. Sunday morning was the next match against Wartburg College. The Spartans were able to put 3 good games together and took the match 3-0. Next up was Coe College and the Spartans won that match, to stay undefeated. Leaving 2 teams left in the Winners side of the bracket, San Jose State and New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). This match saw the Spartans take an early 2-1 lead but could not seal the deal and fell in 5 games.
This now put the Spartans in the Contenders Bracket with one loss versus the other team with one loss Purdue University. This match is best 2 of 3 making it much more important to get off to a quick start. But both teams tied game one at 158, each giving the teams a ½ a point each. The next two games were split 1-1, thus a 4 and final game would be necessary. The Spartans came out with their best bullets, starting with the first 5 strikes, meanwhile Purdue could not get on track and ultimately could not overcome San Jose’s fast start losing the match 148-213. The Spartans would now play for the Championship against NJIT again.
This match returned to the best 3 of 5. NJIT started steady and the Spartans could not get any momentum going during this match. Too many untimely mistakes led to their defeat. San Jose State Spartans were runner-up, their best finish ever at this event. A terrific way to end the season that saw so many accomplishments. With many of these players returning we hope that this success continues next year and many years into the future.
Individual shout outs go to Junior, Keanu Villanueva who was voted to the All-Tournament Team. And to Graduate student Jayson Tram bowling in his final event.
Some fun side activities, included eating at the McDonald’s World Headquarters, visit the Bean and Michigan Ave and Laser Tag.
Next up for the Spartans will be tryouts in September and the beginning of a new season once again. Thank you for all your support, we certainly appreciate the bowling community.
