St. Ambrose walked away with a pair of National Championships Saturday in Green Bay, Wis.

Tyler Close won the Intercollegiate Singles Championship (ISC) before SAU knocked off Mount Mercy 3-2 in the finals of the Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITC).

The national titles are firsts for a Bee program that has been close in the past. Jordan Monnens reached the semifinals of the ISC in 2021 and Nate Stubler advanced to the finals in 2022. The SAU men were national runners-up at the ITC in both 2021 and 2023.

The 2025-26 team finally broke down that door for head coach Eric Littig.

Close was the first to win his title.

The sophomore from Aurora, Colo., was eighth after six rounds of qualifying with 1193 pins. After a first-round bye, Close defeated Brady Lauber of Wis.-Whitewater 669-655 Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday morning, the Bee knocked off the tournament's top qualifier Brody Wildenmann of Muskingum 677-554 to advance to Saturday's semifinals. Moving to a one-game total pinfall format, Close knocked off Midland's Kaeden White 217-164 in the semis before taking down Savannah College of Art and Design's Landin Jordan 200-176 in the championship round.

SAU's Evan Flath was also among the 24 bowlers competing at the ISC. He qualified third overall with 1263 total pins over his six games. Flath, a freshman from Carterville, Ill., was defeated by Jordan 614-572 in the second round of match play.

Then Close joined teammates Keaten Bieri, Lucas Hersrud, Kevin Magnuson, Elias O'Hollaren, Devin Richards, Kendric Siders and Evan White for the ITC finals against Mount Mercy.

Both teams were unbeaten in match play. St. Ambrose was fifth after 24 games of qualifying and Mount Mercy was sixth.

Placed in the Red Bracket, St. Ambrose opened match play with a 4-1 win over Marian (Wis.). That was followed by a 4-3 victory over Wichita State to close play Thursday. Friday, the Bees defeated Southern Nazarene 4-3 before taking a rematch with Marian 4-3 to win the bracket. Mount Mercy won the Blue Bracket.

In the championship best-of-5 round, SAU trailed 2-1 after MMU claimed the third game 183-176. With their backs against the wall, the Bees responded by taking down the Mustangs 210-175 to force a decisive fifth game. There, St. Ambrose put together a 237 to outdistance Mount Mercy (213) for the national title.

For his efforts, Siders was named the MVP of the ITC.

The Bees' victories will be shown by CBS Sports Network. The men's ISC semifinals and final round will be aired on Tuesday, Apr. 28, at 9:30 p.m. and the men's ITC bout vs. Mount Mercy will be shown Wednesday, May 13, at 7 p.m.