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Versailles Lady Bowlers Place 5th at State
The time finally came for the Versailles High School Lady Bowlers. The
OHSAA State Bowling Tournament took place at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl
on Friday, March 4th. 16 Teams were competing for the State Title from
all over the State. Unlike most other sports, there are more Divisions
than just one. Bowling still only has one Division for the Boys and the
Girls. However, due to the fast growth, bowling will be 2 Divisions
starting next season.
The format was 3 Regular Games and 3 Baker Games. Scores would be
tallied and the top 8 teams would then advance to the Bracket Style
Match Play Finals. There were a lot of people that were favoring
Coldwater to repeat as State Champions, however, many coaches and fans
quickly took notice of the Versailles Lady Tigers after they realized
the type of season they had. 3rd in the Ohio Invitational Kickoff
Classic, 2nd in the Pioneer Classic, 1st Place in the WOHSBC beating
Coldwater the final match of the season, 1st Place in Sectionals and
2nd Place at Districts.
“I feel we are one of the best teams in the State and have a great
opportunity to win this. However, we have to gel as a team and keep the
mistakes at a minimum because there are a lot of good teams here today.
“said Coach Phlipot. The 1st game, the Lady Tigers started out just
trying to figure out the lanes. This was the most oil they had bowled
on all year and it was probably the toughest condition they faced in
competition. “We had the girls practice on some tough conditions over
the last few weeks to prepare them. We preached all week how strikes
would be a lot harder to come by and converting spares were going to be
even more important.” Said Coach Davidson.
Versailles struggled a little bit the 1st game with a 782. A lot of
adjustments were made and a few changes were made to the lineup. They
were starting to figure it out a little bit and improved to an 827
game. This put them right where they needed to be hovering around the
8th position. They just kept improving while a few other teams dropped
off a little and rolled a score of 864. With 3 Baker Games to go,
Versailles found themselves on the bubble in 8th position. “We told the
girls all you need to do is make it to the dance (the top 8), it is
then anyone’s championship to win since it is bracket style match
play.” said Coach Davidson.
It was now time for the Baker Games. “With moving to our 4th pair and
getting right into the Baker Games, it was critical for us to get lined
up fast and put the right 5 girls in there.” Said Coach Phlipot. The
Tigers rolled a 161 the first game, which was not too bad, but still
kept them right at the cut line. “These girls were not going to be
denied their shot at the title. After our talk and a change in the
lineup, the girls huddled themselves for their own little meeting.”
Said Coach Davidson. Apparently it worked as they started off with 5
strikes in a row. These were followed by a split and a missed spare,
but they still proceeded to roll an awesome 201 game on this difficult
lane condition. Just as the momentum shifted in the Tigers favor,
things took a turn for the worse. They rolled a final game of 139 and
finished with a 2,974 series. Some were thinking this may have spelled
the end for the Lady Tigers. After an hour break to tally the scores
and announce the individual awards, the announcements were made and
Versailles ended up qualifying 8th to advance to the finals!
“Coldwater Coach Rick Hartings and I talked Thursday night and we both
agreed that someone from the WOHSBC would meet in the finals. With
Versailles, Coldwater and St. Marys all competing, it was almost
imminent it was going to happen.” Said Coach Davidson. Well, as luck
would have it, Coldwater was the number 1 qualifier and Versailles was
8th, so they were to face off for the rematch from just a few weeks
ago. There was a large crowd behind lanes 7-8 as both teams were
warming up. It was extremely quiet and tense and you could hear a pin
drop (no pun intended). The 1st game looked as if it was going to
go to the Tigers, but Coldwater converted (2) big splits while
Versailles missed a couple of easy spares. Coldwater won the game by 15
pins. The 2nd game Coldwater started off on fire and took that game
191-148. Versailles had other plans in mind and did not give up. They
won the 3rd game 190-165 and the momentum had shifted a little.
Unfortunately, the breaks did not go the Lady Tigers direction and they
could not carry a strike. Coldwater defeated the Tigers 189-148 and
proceeded to run the table and repeated as Girls State Bowling
Champions.
“What a season! I am so proud of these girls on their accomplishments.
With over 275 girls bowling teams in the State of Ohio, to just make it
here is incredible.” said Coach Phlipot. The Lady Tigers were led by
Kelsey Berning with a 563 and she was selected as All-Ohio Honorable
Mention.
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