BEAVERCREEK — After having a couple high school bowling matches to analyze the two teams, Xenia High School varsity boys and girls bowling coach Robert Rose is encouraged with what he’s seen so far.
In Thursday’s bowling matches at Beaver-Vu Lanes, the Xenia boys remained undefeated with a 2,261-2,075 win over Miamisburg, and the girls lost to a Vikings team whom Rose says could be one of the better girls teams in the state, 2,221-2,169.
The Xenia girls (2-1) surprised Miamisburg by winning the first team game, 935 to 921, but the Vikings rallied with a solid 962 score in the second game to Xenia’s 913.
The Buccaneers had a tough first Baker game score of 144 ( to ‘Burg’s 178), but rallied with a Baker win in the second game, 177 to 160. They still came up 52 pins shy of pulling off the overall score upset, however.
Kailee Palecek led the Xenia girls with a 389 two-game series. Her 212 first game was the team high as well.
Kelsey Rose tossed a 384 two-gamer, with her high game being a 203. And Caity Moody rolled a 380 series with a 198 game. Kelly Fullen rolled a 337 series, and Gillian Miller fired a 358 two-game series for the Xenia girls.
Rose liked what he saw from the girls contingent.
“Miamisburg’s girls team is probably one of the best 10-12 teams in the state. Our girls actually bowled a little better in their match Tuesday (Nov. 26, A 2,404-2,127 win over Springfield), so we have 6-7 girls we can put into the lineup. There’s a lot of talent there.
“Our targeted score for our girls is 875, so we’ll take 900s every day.”
Rose said the girls are roughly 250 pins better than they were last season.
Led by Zane Eneix’s 489 two-game series, Xenia’s boys squad (3-0) never trailed Miamisburg. They were out in front by 83 pins after the first game, and up by 90 after the second. The Buc boys faltered a little in the opening Baker game (losing 172-144), but more than made up for it with a blistering 265 Baker score in the final game.
For the uninitiated, a Baker game is where each member of the five-person team rotates through the order and bowls a frame through the entire 10 frames of a game. That means that each bowler is solely responsible for his team’s score in two frames.
That makes Xenia’s 265 Baker game even more incredible. After starting out with a pair of spare frames, the boys bowlers rotated through the order and bashed eight consecutive strikes before closing out the 10th frame with a missed two-pin split.
“The boys are bowling better this year than they did last year. And last year’s team had one senior who qualified for districts and the other who was the defending state champion,” Rose said.
Eneix had games of 267 and 222 to form his 489 two-game series total. Cameron McPherson rolled a 356 two-game series with a high game of 192, and James McDaniel turned in a 370 series with his high game of 199. Samuel Bahorik rolled a 298 two-game series as well, and teammates Trace Howdyshell and Dalton Hinders contributed with single games of 182 and 155 respectively.
“We think that both teams are going to be very competitive this season,” Rose said. “We’re going to have quite a bit of fun.”
The “fun” continues at 12:30 p.m. Saturday Dec. 2 for Xenia. That’s when the boys and girls varsity squads will head to Columbus to compete in the Kick Off Tournament at the Columbus Square Bowling Palace.
