The Virginia Union Women's Bowling team capped off a surprisingly remarkable season with a second-place finish at the CIAA Bowling Championships on March 22-23 in Mechanicsville, Va.  

"I am so proud of this team," said VUU Head Bowling Coach James Washington.  "After finishing second last year and losing three starters from that team, expectations were not high as the preseason standings showed.  We were picked to finish 6th out of the 8 teams.  The season started off slow as it looked like the preseason poll was correct.  But after the second tournament the ladies decided to come together and really started to put in the work at practice.  The CIAA Roundup, held in Fayetteville, N.C., showed me what we could be capable of by giving Fayetteville State their first conference loss of the season for the second year in a row.  Our confidence level going into Championships was high.  We were at home and had many alumni and parents on hand to support us."

VUU beat the Northern Division champions, Bowie State University, twice to advance to the Finals, but Fayetteville State was just too tough to overcome.

"This team was not as talented as last year, but they made me so proud," said Washington.   I told them they had a great season and that nobody expected us to get this far."

After the last ball was thrown the emotions came as five of the six young ladies realized that they had just competed in their last college competition

"They really wanted to go out with a Championship," said Washington.

Rebuilding starts next season with the only All-Conference and All-Tournament player,  Alexis Jackson, returning.

For the first time in recent memory, Virginia Union had two bowlers earn All-CIAA Honors:  Alexis Jackson and Kiara Powell.

But, wow, what a great season!