The Saint Vincent men's bowling team ended its 2021-22 season with a loss in the championship match of the Ohio Bowling Conference tournament, falling to the University of Rio Grande.

SVC, entering the tournament as the #3 seed, started the day in pool play by splitting a four-game Baker series with Notre Dame College, 2-2.  Next up was a matchup against the University of Cincinnati, and SVC won the battle of the Bearcats, 4-0.  SVC then swept Northern Kentucky University, 4-0, before finishing the pool with another 2-2 split against Notre Dame.
 
Based on the results of pool play, Saint Vincent entered the double-elimination bracket as the #3 seed, behind Muskingum and the University of Akron.  The other first-round bye went to #4 Robert Morris University.
 
Saint Vincent's first match in bracket play was against #7 Notre Dame.  The teams once again found themselves tied, 2-2, after four games, but the brackets were based on a best-of-five series, and the Bearcats won the deciding game, 224-177.
 
#2 Akron was up next, and SVC won the series 3-1.  Staying in the winners' bracket, the Bearcats next faced regional rival Robert Morris University.  Once again, SVC won the match by a 3-1 margin.
 
Meanwhile, Rio Grande, which had lost an earlier match to Robert Morris, battled its way back through the losers' bracket to earn a shot in the championship match against the undefeated Bearcat team.
 
The series opened with a rare tie, 160-160.  The teams then split the next four games, with the series ending tied, 2.5 to 2.5.  This necessitated a 2-frame roll-off, which was won by Rio.  That forced a final best-of-five matchup for the title.  Saint Vincent fell behind, dropping game one, before tying the match with a 180-156 win.  The Bearcats took a 2-1 lead with a 157-138 win over challenging lane conditions.  Rio won game four, 176-163, to set up a final one game shootout for the championship.  The Bearcats had two splits in the first four frames and were unable to recover, falling by a score of 170-158.
 
(Individual scores will be added to this story on Monday.)
 
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