Lancer bowlers finish 9th at semi-state
FORT WAYNE – Heading into the Fort Wayne bowling semi-state, Laville coach Kevin Kubsch and his Lancers knew they were in good company.
Up to this point, LHS, in just its third year following a return to the local bowling scene since 2012, was having a historic season.
No other Laville bowling team had ever advanced to the semi-state level.
“First you look at in just three years the amazing development from the kids,” Kubsch said heading into Saturday’s Fort Wayne semi-state. “We go from sitting at the bottom in our first year and we add two years to that and we are headed to semi-state. These kids just keep amazing you each day.”
Kubsch knew that the competition was going to be stiff if they wanted to advance to the finals in a couple weeks in Indianapolis.
He also knew that his Lancers would give nothing but their very best to give their team a shot.
“We started out pretty well,” said Kubsch as the action got under way at Pro Bowl West in Fort Wayne. “We started out better than we had at sectional and regional with solid games. At 169-156, we were right around our average. So that put us in the middle after the first two games.
All-in-all we got a good start out of the gate.”
Over the next three games, Laville picked things up. The Lancers increased their pin count after shooting a 178-190199.
“We knew we were on the cut line at that point,” said Kubsch. “We don’t like talking about the scores when the team is bowling. We try to concentrate on just bowling.”
As the teams continue to change lanes following each Baker series game, Laville hit a bit of hiccup.
“Things started to falter in game six and seven,” Kubsch explained. “It was a little tougher to stay on the right side of the pocket. We ended up scoring 156148, which was the lowest game of the day to that point.”
As the lanes kept changing, it seemed as though the Lancer team would gain
some footing and according to Kubsch, “We shot a solid 210 in game eight. That was a nice bounce back game for us. We felt we were set up much better. We felt like we were still in solid shape.”
Laville stayed near its average, shooting a 168 in game nine of the Baker set and heading down the home stretch.
“Going into the last three games we were one pin away from the fourth spot,” Kubsch said of his teams placement. “If we shoot our average, it puts us in the step ladder finals if we can hold that position.”
One thing that Kubsch noticed as his squad continued to change lanes was how the oil was performing on the lanes.
“There had been a lot of change in the oil pattern,” Kubsch explained. “We were kind of trying to find our way on the lanes. We had some splits and easy opens. We shot a 130 in game 10, 144 in game 11, and finished with a 113 game to end the match. For 9 games we were solid and we were there. We just needed to continue to throw in that 150-160 range.”
When the final results were announced, Laville finished in ninth place of the 12 teams, with the top six advancing to the finals.
Highland ended up averaging 186 and won the semi-state after collecting 2,241 pins. Jimtown finished second at 2,219, and Peru third with 2,147. Alexandria was fourth with 2,116, Warsaw fifth (2103), and Penn sixth (2,053).
Bellmont was seventh, Woodlan eight, Laville ninth with 1,961, Rochester 10th at 1,951, Wabash 11th (1,836), and Pendleton Heights rounded out the field at 1,783.
“We were 93 pins away from advancing,” said Kubsch. “But what a performance. I don’t know what else you can say. This team was absolutely incredible. They were loose coming in to today. They were not uptight. They managed their game well. I told them after the end of the match that we can’t walk away with anything other than our heads held high. I told them that they proved that they belonged. Myself and the other coaches are looking forward to next year.”