Men’s Bowling Loses Close One, Eliminated from Nationals
Sterling Heights–The William Penn men’s bowling team traveled north to Sterling Heights, Michigan to compete in the NAIA National Tournament.
The Statesmen were unable to make it to the championship round on Saturday, winning one match in the consolation bracket but falling to Ottawa, 3-2.
The first day of nationals consisted of rounds of baker play to determine seeding for the championship bracket. The navy and gold started off hot through their first four baker games, sliding in at third place out of ten competing squads through the first round with a team score of 839. They slowed down in sets two and three, however, posting scores of 788 and 780, marks good for ninth and eighth among the field, respectively. They made up some ground with the fourth best (822) and third best (870) scores in the subsequent baker sets, but finished with the lowest overall team score in the final baker set, setting them as the eighth seed entering bracket play on Friday.
In the opening round of bracket play, the Statesmen matched up against the #9 seeded Midland Warriors. The Warriors took a quick 2-0 on William Penn, and after battling back to take game three, fell by a score of 3-1 to Midland to drop them into the consolation bracket after the first match of the day.
In their next matchup, the Statesmen were opposed by the Blue Devils of Lawrence Tech. The Blue Devils took game one of the matchup by a score of 213-187, but the navy and gold stole a victory in game two to even it up at one, winning by just a single pin at 191-190. The men captured the momentum with two resounding victories of 193-168 and 245-182 to eliminate Lawrence Tech and move on to the next round.
In their third matchup of the day, William Penn squared off against the Ottawa Braves. The Braves stole a hotly contested first match by only two pins, winning 221-219, and won the second game 172-150, putting them only one win away from moving on. The Statesmen came back strong, however, overcoming a strong score from Ottawa to win game three 214-203, and beating an even stronger Braves performance in game four to even the match at 2-2 following a 234-214 triumph. The momentum swing was not enough to carry the Statesmen to the next round, unfortunately, as the Braves won another close game to knock William Penn out of the tournament, winning the clinching game 192-188.
“I think we showed a lot of fight the last match and we were able to dig a little deeper than we had all weekend,” said Head Coach Brandon Brooks. “In the end, these are the best 10 NAIA teams in the country and some of the best teams in all of college bowling. We just need to get in some extra work in this last push for both teams before sectionals.”
What’s Next: The men’s team, as well as the women’s team, will wait for Tuesday’s selection show to determine where they will participate in USBC Sectionals on April 16 and 17.
