KUTZTOWN, Pa. – After a noteworthy 2024-25 season that featured the East Coast Conference crown and a trip to the NCAA Regional Tournament, the Kutztown University women's bowling team will look to build off the foundation it laid last year as it looks ahead to 2025-26.
After concluding last season with a 64-45 record that saw sixth-year head coach Angela Reynolds win the ECC Coach of the Year honor and eclipse the 60-win threshold for the first time in her career, the reigning ECC Champions will have to navigate a difficult path to replicate its success from a season ago.
The Maroon and Gold return ECC Rookie of the Year Kamryn Brenneman (York, Pa./Central York) and lineup mainstays in seniors Shelby Wunch (Easton, Md./Easton) and Sydney Snyder (Morrisville, Pa./Conwell-Egan Catholic), but it will be up to the other 13 bowlers to fill the remaining empty frames and maintain the team's success from last year. The roster includes four keglers from each class, and similar to Brenneman's sudden success a season ago, Reynolds is open to mixing and matching experience levels within the lineups to find the most successful fit.
"There is a lot of talent on this year's team, so we just have to figure out how they fit as far as lineups are concerned," said Reynolds. "Since we have a younger team, we are hoping that we can stay focused and keep learning as the year goes on. We hope this team will be up for the challenge, and we will take it one day at a time trying to get ready for the East Coast Conference tournament."
The conference polls gave Kutztown the top spot by a slim margin, just five votes ahead of second-place Bryant, who finished third at the ECC Championship a season ago. Rounding out the top five are reigning ECC Championship runners-up Roberts Wesleyan in third, Molloy in fourth, and Adelphi and Saint Anselm in a tie for fifth. Kutztown collected six first-place votes, while Bryant claimed a pair and Roberts Wesleyan snagged the remaining vote.
In the nationwide All-Division Poll released by the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA), Kutztown was one of 12 teams receiving votes in the poll, a list that expanded from the ten teams receiving votes a season ago. Of the teams that Kutztown faced in last year's NCAA Regional competition, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 6 Arkansas State and No. 10 Maryville open the season in the polls.
The NTCA placed Kutztown as the ninth-best team in the DII/DIII Poll, providing a ranking of teams at a similar level. Kutztown is one of 13 teams recognized in the poll, with the Golden Bears serving as the lone representative of the ECC.
The Golden Bears open its nine-tournament regular season schedule at Chestnut Hill's Bud Whitman Memorial this weekend, with the two-day tournament taking place on Saturday, Oct. 11, and Sunday, Oct. 12. Kutztown will host its home tournament, the Golden Bear Invite, at Berks Lanes in Sinking Spring, Pa., on Saturday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 2. The most challenging test will likely come in the beginning of the 2026 portion of the season at Sacred Heart's Northeast Classic, a stacked, three-day outing on Jan. 16-18.
The East Coast Conference Championships will be held across three days on March 20-22, with the tournament's winner earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Bowling Championship. Four regional sites will host the NCAA Regionals from April 2-4, and the final round will take place in Parma Heights, Ohio, on April 10-11, 2026.
