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Bottom
row: Megan Monnin, Paige Holsapple, Megan Ward. Back Row: Hannah
Niekamp,
Danielle Cochran, Tori Minnich, Kelsey Berning, Brooke
Wehrkamp, Coach Tyler Phlipot.
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Versailles Varsity Bowling
Bowlers compete
in Ohio Invitational Tournament
Girls bowlers finish third
The Boys and Girls Varsity Bowling team traveled to the 64 Lane Palace
Lanes in Columbus on Saturday, December 1st to compete in the Ohio
Invitational Kickoff Classic. This is the largest High School Bowling
Team Tournament in the United States. They were competing with
the best teams in the State of Ohio based on last year's achievements.
There were 31 boy’s teams and 31 girls teams competing. Out of the 31
boys teams, 4 qualified out of the WOHSBC. Out of the 31 girl’s teams,
3 were out of the WOHSBC, which goes to show you how competitive our
conference is.
The format was 3 games of regular bowling and then each division was
cut to the top 16 teams based on total pinfall. The oil pattern was the
Kegel Broadway Pattern. (Kegel is a company based in Florida that
produces lane machines, cleaners and lane oil. They also own and
operate a state of the art training center for bowlers. This facility
is also home to the Webber International Warriors Collegiate bowling
teams that recently won the Collegiate National Championships last
season. This pattern allows bowlers to play just about any part of the
lane using various speeds and angles.
After 3 games of qualifying for both teams, the girls were
sitting in great. The boys, on the other hand, were “on the bubble”.
“My estimation was the girls were going to be in the top 8 after the
cut. The boys were a little more stressful waiting for the scores to be
tallied. The girls ended up in 8th position and made the cut to the
match play top 16. The boys didn’t quite have enough missing the cut by
about 70 pins and finishing 21st, just 5 spots out of the finals,” said
Coach Davidson
“Unfortunately, the boys dug themself a pretty big hole the first game.
Although they missed the match play finals, they kept scratching away
and made a great run to almost get there,” said Coach Davidson. “The
girls were very consistent in the 3 game qualifier and bowled very
solid,” stated Coach Phlipot.
With their 8th place qualifying position, the Lady Tigers were set to
bowl 9th seed perennial powerhouse, Fairborn. The format was now the
best 3 out of 5 Baker games. The 1st game belonged to Fairborn,
128-193. Versailles fought back and won the 2nd game 165-158. The 3rd
game went back to Fairborn 134-171. The lanes were getting very tough
due to all of the bowling during the day, especially the left lane. The
girls were determined and kept focused with a 4th game win of 163-152.
“Tyler and I got together and came up with a strategy for the last
game. We were finishing on the tough left lane where both teams were
struggling. Although we won the 4th game while bowling on the right
lane, we switched out 2 of the girls for the final game. We put in
couple girls that could throw the ball harder to help with the drier
left lane,” said Coach Davidson. The strategy seemed to work as the
last game went to the Tigers, 212-197.
The round of 8 started immediately with the Tigers bowling against
Mother of Mercy, who led the qualifying round. “Although Mother of
Mercy led the qualifying, I felt we were the better team due to the
depth we have,” said Coach Phlipot. This match only went 4 games, with
yet another victory for the Lady Tigers. 165-137, 118-146, 173-136 and
166-160.
The field is now down to the final 4 teams. Versailles now had to take
on Beavercreek. In the other match was Xenia against Kettering
Fairmont. The time was now about 7:30 pm and the girls had been bowling
since 1 pm. It started out with Beavercreek winning 163-145 and
169-115. As the girls did all day, they kept battling to stay alive.
They won 174-140 and had a good lead going into the 8th frame of the
4th Baker game. Their 3rd bowler rolled a great shot and struck. The
4th bowler’s ball crossed over to the Brooklyn side and struck. Their
anchor bowler then proceeded to roll the 1st 2 strikes in the tenth to
come from nowhere to win the game and the match. Beavercreek ended up
winning 194-178. They also ended up defeating Xenia in the finals to
win the 2012 Championship. “I cannot say enough of how proud I am of
these girls, in the Baker Games they just kept battling back to beat
some really good teams. It was definitely a team effort and was a blast
to coach today,” said Coach Phlipot.
Out of the 31 girl’s teams in the tournament, 95% of them were D1 or D2
schools. “To finish tied for 3rd in this tournament with the caliber of
teams is an awesome accomplishment for these girls,” stated Coach
Davidson.
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