For the Bryant women’s bowling team, winning the 2025-26 East Coast Conference (ECC) championship just four years after the program’s founding wasn’t just a lucky strike, but rather underpinned by a lot of practice, mental preparation, and time in the gym, says two-time ECC Coach of the Year Morgan Walsh.
Walsh, who grew up in a bowling family in the Buffalo, New York, area (her father, Jeff, is currently the head bowling coach at Niagara University) and competes on the professional bowling circuit, was hired as the inaugural head coach of Bryant’s bowling team in 2021. The team was originally expected to launch as a club sport but, given a year to recruit players, Walsh decided that the program was ready to roll right into NCAA Division I competition in 2022.
“I recruited my core four players, who just graduated this year,” says Walsh. “We started the program their first year, with all the growing pains that come with that, but they trusted the process and grew over the past couple of years.”
That commitment and buy-in helped these four seniors — Laura Clark ’26, Olivia Hillman ’26, Stephanie Kotropoulos ’26, and Abby Unson ’26 — lead Bryant’s 'keglers’ to the ECC title in late March. The number one seed in the championship tournament, and ranked fourteenth nationally, Bryant defeated third-seeded Molloy University to claim the crown. Hillman, the 2026 ECC Bowler of the Year, a First Team All-ECC selection, and a third-team All-American, was named to the All-Tournament team, while first-year student-athlete Madison Lewis ’29 was named the Most Outstanding Bowler in the ECC championships.
“Olivia was my first recruit,” recalls Walsh. “I saw her at a local tournament, and thought, ‘Okay, she's got potential. Maybe she'd be a good mid-level [contributor], something like that.’ Now she’s an All-American, so that [progression] was probably the coolest thing to watch.”
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The best season in Bryant bowling history was capped by the team’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament, where the team lost a close match against Louisiana Tech University, the fourth ranked team in the country, before being eliminated by Wichita State University’s third ranked team, the eventual runner-up for the national championship.
Walsh’s success in guiding Bryant to its first ECC title is made more impressive by the fact that this is her first time coaching at the collegiate level.
“There wasn't a major legacy I had to follow, so I was able to create the program and tailor it how I want it,” she says.
The conference title capped a progression where the team’s winning percentage has improved each season. As is often the case in sports, however, facing adversity and failure helped drive the Bulldogs to the top. In the 2024-25 conference playoffs, Bryant was knocked out on a heartbreaking last-ball strike.
“We were ranked first in the preseason poll, but I think that taking them down a few pegs helped them absolutely soar this year,” says Walsh. “Our players put the work in over the summer and realized how bad they wanted it.”
“Our players put the work in over the summer and realized how bad they wanted it.”
That extra preparation came not just at the bowling alley, but in the gym where the women spend three days a week training at to maintain a competitive edge.
“Bowling uses a lot of muscles that you don't think about: it’s very core and lower body focused,” Walsh says. “A typical tournament is about seven hours of nonstop bowling, so that's seven hours of lunges. So, there is a lot more physicality to bowling than you think.”
Walsh describes her coaching style as "laid back" — preferring to teach the fundamentals and then let her team learn from each other. For example, Walsh credits Madison Damer ’28 for honing the Bulldogs’ mental toughness during matches.
“The mental side of bowling can take a toll on you if you let it. Madison is our rock with that and sharing what works for her has helped the team get better,” Walsh says.
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Bryant’s founding quartet may have graduated, but Lewis’ standout talent at a young age, combined with leadership from rising junior Damer and rising senior Hayden Smith ’27, have Walsh feeling confident heading into the 2026-27 season.
“I'm interested to see how these two take this on as their team and see the pivot happen, because for so long this program revolved around the four original recruits,” says Walsh. “They created the foundation, but what do these next leaders do? We’ve got two first-year players coming in that are highly decorated, and we’re getting our first-ever transfer. So, lots of firsts coming up, and I’d like to see us continue our winning tradition.”