Losing at State Still Gave Panthers a Successful Season

The Greendale boys bowling team finished the year on somewhat of a disappointing note this past weekend as the team finished 10^th out of 15 teams at the Wisconsin 2011 State Bowling Tournament in Ashwaubenon, Wis.

“We expected to do much better than 10th place,” Greendale head coach Rob Ligocki said in an email. “The bowlers were set on making the top five like last year.”

The Panthers came out of the gates a little flat, throwing a 149 in the first game of 15, a number that is well below their team average of 182.

They quickly countered in the second game by bowling a 245, which ties their season-high for a single-game score.

From there on out however, Greendale didn’t perform as well as normal, hitting above their average in just five of the 15 games.

“The team knew that they struggled in Green Bay,” Ligocki said. “The bowlers had a lot of bad breaks that could have been strikes but they also struggled with spares. The lane conditions were different and the bowlers had difficulties bowling consistently with the adjustments.”

Greendale finished with a total score of 2,600 on the day for an average of 172. Columbus/Fall River took first in Division 2 with a total score of 2,982 for an average of 198.8.

Despite the rough weekend, the Panthers had an extremely successful season. They won their conference in a dramatic roll off against rival Greenfield and only lost two matches all season.

“The season was a great success,” Ligocki said. “We completed the season 17-2, which is Greendale's best record ever. We also won our conference for a second straight year, and making it to the state competition is always a huge success.”

The team was made up of juniors Bryan Bremer, Kyle Senft and Kevin St. Martin and seniors Andy Kellermann, Brandon Kurczewski, Nick Lichtenwalner and Jake Pipke.