Brody Wildenmann of Muskingum (left) and Gianna Brandolino of Jacksonville State led their respective divisions during qualifying at The Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley on Tuesday and punched their tickets to Wednesday's quarterfinal round of match play at the 2026 Intercollegiate Singles Championships.

QUALIFYING RESULTS
MEN'S BRACKET
WOMEN'S BRACKET

GREEN BAY, Wis. – One six-game qualifying block and two rounds of three-game, total-pinfall matches were contested during Tuesday’s opening day of competition at the 2026 United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Singles Championships, which is taking place at The Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

There were 24 athletes in each field when the first shots were thrown, but by day’s end, just eight men and eight women kept themselves in contention for this year’s singles national titles.

Jacksonville State freshman Gianna Brandolino led the women’s field during qualifying with a six-game total of 1,300, which was good enough for a 216.67 average, the No. 1 seed for match play and a first-round bye – the top eight seeds in each division received byes.

The break did nothing to cool Brandolino off, however, as the talented right-hander from Channahon, Illinois, averaged better than 242 during a 727-568 Round 2 victory over No. 16 seed Ashtyn Woods of Wichita State.

That win moved Brandolino into Wednesday morning’s third round of matches where she will face No. 8 Leah Brazier of Indiana Tech, who earned her place in the bout by topping Hope Tafolla of Sacred Heart, 635-564, during Round 2 of match play on Tuesday afternoon.

The winner of the Brandolino-Brazier matchup will advance to Saturday’s ISC women’s TV show and earn a semifinal bout against whichever bowler emerges victorious in the battle between No. 13 Katarina Hagler of Pikeville and Bricey Caudill of Tennessee Wesleyan, who entered match play as the 21st seed.

Hagler and Caudill both posted 2-0 records on Tuesday with Hagler downing No. 20 Savannah Swiatocha of Maryville (604-501) and 2024 ISC women’s champ Sara Duque of Wichita State (552-549), while Caudill bested 12th seed Karleigh Lemond of Sacred Heart (589-536) and No. 5 Emily Newbauer of Viterbo (596-574).

Second seed Denise Blankenzee of Sam Houston State, No. 6 Brianna Rogers of Pikeville, No. 10 Kaitlyn Stull of Jacksonville State and 14th-seeded Dannielle Henderson of Vanderbilt, the 2024 USBC U22 Queens champion, also will be competing in Wednesday morning’s women’s quarterfinals.

Blankenzee and Rogers each went 1-0 with Blankenzee taking down No. 15 Payton Hartgrove of North Carolina A&T (630-538) and Rogers dispatching Vanderbilt’s Saphyre Nofuente, the No. 11 seed, by a final score of 650-547.

The road was a bit longer for Stull and Henderson, who were forced to win two matches on Tuesday in order to keep their singles national title hopes alive.

Stull had a relatively easy time of things during Round 1 as she defeated 23rd seed Sara Ritchie of Rochester Christian by nearly 100 pins, 649-554.

Stull was pushed to the limit during her Round 2 battle against fellow Jacksonville State bowler Emma Yoder, however.

Yoder stepped up in the 10th frame of Game 3 with a chance to shut her teammate out, but disaster struck when Yoder’s first shot in the final frame left a 3-7 split.

After Yoder was unable to topple either pin, the stage was set for Stull. If she could step up and throw all three strikes during her final frame, she’d go around Yoder to claim the victory and a berth in Round 3.

Not one to waste opportunities, Stull delivered, recording all three strikes to post a final score of 279 – her only non-strike during the last game was a 10-pin in the eighth frame – to win the thrilling match by a final score of 699-698.

Henderson followed a similar path, taking down No. 19 Addysen Case of McKendree by nearly 50 pins, 592-547, during Round 1 before being forced to endure a three-pin nail-biter, 542-539, against third seed Kaylin Wahlmeier of Newman to survive and advance in the second round.

When women’s quarterfinal action gets underway Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, Henderson will face Rogers while Stull battles Blankenzee.

The ladies who emerge victorious will advance to the TV finals, which will be recorded on Saturday starting at 4:15 p.m. Eastern and broadcast on CBS Sports Network on Tuesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. Eastern.

The men’s ISC semifinals and finals will be taped Saturday morning beginning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern and will air on Tuesday, April 28 at 9:30 p.m. Eastern.

Eight men sit just one win away from punching their tickets to that show after authoring solid performances at The Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley on Tuesday.

Brody Wildenmann of Muskingum led the 24-player men’s field during qualifying with a six-game score of 1,306 (a 217.67 average).

After enjoying a first-round bye, Wildenmann was put to the test during his Round 2 matchup against 17th-seeded Camden Malott from Indiana Wesleyan.

The match was close from start to finish, but Wildenmann escaped with a hard-fought 577-562 victory to earn a berth in Round 3.

There, he will face No. 8 Tyler Close of St. Ambrose, who reached the men’s quarterfinals thanks to a 669-655 win against Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Brady Lauber, the No. 9 seed.

The victor in the Wildenmann v. Close affair will secure a spot on the ISC men’s TV show and will face a semifinal battle against either No. 4 seed Jacob Holste of Mount Mercy, who reached the men’s quarterfinals thanks to a 574-483 win against 13th-seeded Camryn Stefanini of Clarke, or No. 5 Kaeden White, who reached Round 3 by defeating 21st seed Hayden Tarris of Indiana Tech by a final score of 655-633.

On the other side of the men’s bracket, No. 2 Nate Trentler of Calumet will square off against seventh seed Brandon Caruso of Wichita State while Landin Jordan of Savannah College of Art and Design – Savannah, the 14th seed, goes up against No. 6 David Schaberg of Aquinas.

Jordan won two matches on Tuesday (694-657 over Pikeville’s Andrew Allen, the 19th seed, and 614-572 against No. 3 Evan Flath of St. Ambrose) while Trentler (572-541 over 18th seed Daryus Alo of Newman), Caruso (714-617 against Spring Arbor’s Connor Rogus, the 10th seed) and Schaberg (565-530 versus No. 11 Dmitri Richardson of Wichita State) each recorded one.

Stellar performances during qualifying made it so that Brandolino and Wildenmann only needed to win once on Tuesday as well.

According to Brandolino, her Day 1 success was simply a byproduct of enacting the plan she formulated during practice on Monday.

“I tried a lot of different lines and surfaces yesterday in practice, and that allowed me to commit to a gameplan early today,” Brandolino said. “I was lucky enough to be able to use that plan throughout the entire day.”

While Brandolino will certainly be hoping to employ the same strategy on Wednesday morning, she knows that she’ll have to be willing to adjust on the fly because there is little-to-no margin for error.

“With this tournament being single elimination, you have to be very aggressive with your choices,” Brandolino said. “There’s no room for error or time to be scared of anything; you have to find a way to commit.”

Wildenmann certainly has no margin for error because, as a senior, this will be his last opportunity to make a run at an ISC men’s title. That fact is hardly lost on Wildenmann.

“Being a senior and all, it would mean a lot to bowl well tomorrow and make it to TV,” Wildenmann said. “My dad passed away a couple years ago, so making the show would be a big step. It was a big step and very emotional just to qualify and get this far.”

But make no mistake; Wildenmann isn’t just happy to be in Green Bay. He came to win, which was a fact that he made crystal clear while leading the men’s field at Ashwaubenon on Tuesday.

“I just tried to keep getting farther left to get away from everybody,” Wildenmann said. “I used the early hook to my advantage and tried to get the ball to roll out. That gave me a good look, and I was able to take advantage of it.”

If things look just as good during men’s quarterfinal action on Wednesday, Wildenmann will be a tough out to say the least.

Wednesday’s quarterfinal-round matches will be streamed live on BowlTV.com.

CLICK HERE for more information on the Intercollegiate Singles Championships.