The roars from the hearty Beacon contingent of fans at the Windy City Classic echoed louder and louder through River Rand Bowl after each strike by the #21 Valpo bowling team in game six of the tournament's championship match against #10 Maryville, and for good reason, as the Beacons held a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven match and the crowd sensed the tournament title staying home.
 
With Maryville only through seven frames, Valpo closed out the game with a 210, and all attention then fell solely on the Saints' side of the lane, with all in attendance doing the math — the Saints would have to roll four strikes in a row to keep the Beacons from claiming the tournament title. With the Valpo fans on pins and needles waiting for one sole misstep which would give the Beacons the championship, Maryville came through in a big way, as its final three bowlers combined for a five-bagger to close out a 215 and force a decisive seventh game.
 
A well-bowled finale both ways saw Maryville emerge victorious, edging Valpo to win the tournament title. The Beacons' consolation prize was a second-place finish — the program's best finish in a tournament in nearly four years — and a spot on the All-Tournament Team for Payton Rowley (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville), who finished with the third-best individual average in the tournament field.
 
How It Happened

• Needing to win three straight best-of-seven baker matches to win the championship Sunday, the Beacons already had a pair of ranked wins under their belts to advance to the title match against Maryville — the highest-ranked team in the tournament field and the top seed entering bracket play.
• Valpo opened the championship match with games of 213, 200 and 222, but only held a 2-1 lead after those three efforts, as Maryville posted a 234 in game two.
• The Beacons edged the Saints, 195-191, in game four to push its advantage in the match to 3-1. Maryville bested Valpo by 14 pins in game five to extend the match.
• That set up the classic finish to game six to send the match to the decisive seventh game. Maryville came out on top in the decider, 217-202, as the Saints took a double-digit lead midway through the game and held it the remainder of the way.
• Despite the loss, Valpo posted a 202.9 average in the championship match — just the eighth time in program history it has lost a best-of-seven baker match when averaging at least a 200.
• Valpo did the same to its opening opponent on Sunday, #15 McKendree, as the Bearcats recorded a 205.6 average in a 4-3 win by the Beacons. Valpo got out to a 3-1 lead thanks to a 208-200 win in game one, a 195-189 win in game three and a 214-205 win in game four.
• McKendree took the next two games handily to set up a winner-take-all game, and this game seven went Valpo's way by a final count of 213-187.
• The victory moved the Beacons into a matchup against #20 Wright State for the right to take on Maryville for the championship. Valpo took a 2-0 lead in the match, earning a seven-pin win in game one and a 35-pin win in game two. The Raiders took game three before the Beacons bounced back with a 205-194 win in game four and then closed things out with a 34-pin win in game five.

 
Inside the Tournament

• This weekend was just the second second-place tournament finish in program history, as Valpo previously finished as runner-up in its home tournament in November 2017.
• Valpo has earned top-two finishes three times at its home tournament, as it took the tournament championship in November 2011.
• Maryville won Valpo's home tournament for the second time, as it previously won in October 2023.
• McKendree's Addysen Case earned Tournament MVP honors after averaging a 211.6 in Saturday's traditional team matches. She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammate Grace Ogle, Rowley, Maryville's Elizabeth Teuber and Wright State's Jasmine Schulze.
• The All-Tournament accolade was the first of Rowley's career. She is the first Valpo bowler to earn an All-Tournament Team spot at the program's home tournament since Alexis Roof was Tournament MVP in 2019.

 
Next Up
Valpo (21-18) has one tournament remaining this fall, traveling in two weekends to McKendree's Bearcat Invitational, hosted at St. Clair Bowl in Fairview Heights, Ill. The three-day tournament begins Friday, Nov. 14.