Statesmen Narrowly Miss Second-Straight Heart Title
Des Moines, Iowa–The William Penn men’s bowling team competed in the Heart of America Athletic Conference championship, narrowly missing their second consecutive conference title. They fell 4-2 in the championship round, coming in second place.
The Statesmen had a strong first day of the tournament, finishing their 28 Baker games on Saturday with a nearly 400 pin advantage over the next closest team to enter match play on Sunday as the #1 overall seed.
After earning a first round bye in match play, the navy and gold swept the Peru State Bobcats to set themselves up with a semifinal matchup against the Grand View Vikings. The Vikings defeated WPU to advance to the championship round. In the loser’s bracket final, William Penn once again got the best of the Bobcats to advance to the championship for a rematch against Grand View.
Playing from behind out of the loser’s bracket, the Statesmen dropped the first game 237-223, but continued to bowl extremely well. After a narrow victory 205-203, WPU coasted to three easy victories of 220-175, 235-154, 212-184.
The navy and gold continued their momentum in the final round, winning the opening game 244-177. Grand View responded back with two wins, but William Penn evened the match 2-2 with a 259-169 win. Unfortunately, the Vikings squeaked out a narrow victory in game five, and claimed the conference title with another win in game six.
What’s Next: The Statesmen have a couple weeks off before competing in the USBC sectionals. The individual portion will take place on March 11, while team sectionals will happen on March 12 and 13.
