Bowling: Hodag boys split again in district play

A ninth-game loss against Wittenberg-Birnamwood kept a reorganized Rhinelander/Three Lakes boys’ bowling squad from winning both of its matches Sunday in Wisconsin High School Bowling Club District 9 competition.

The Hodags fell to Wittenberg-Birnamwood 5-4 in their opener before bouncing back to beat Lakeland 8-1 in the third and fourth rounds of the season at Dale’s Weston Lanes.

After losing one of the bowlers off the boys’ roster — and with a number of bowlers scratched due to illness and other circumstances — the program opted to disband its JV squad. Three Lakes freshman Oren Alsager was allowed to join the Rhinelander varsity squad because the team fell below the threshold of Rhinelander High School bowlers (7) that would required it to field a stand-alone program. 

“It’s a new dynamic and we only had five boys there. It was last-minute switch over,” coach Mike Bourcier said. “Oren was nervous. He bowls with all these kids in practice, but it’s different when you’re coming on the team with them in competition.”

The Hodags opened with a 203-154 win over the Chargers, but dropped three of the next four to fall behind 3-2 in the match. 

Rhinelander/Three Lakes responded with a 210-169 win in Game 6, Wittenberg-Birnamwood took the seventh 190-180 and the Hodags squeaked out a 160-158 win in Game 8 to force a decisive ninth game. The Hodags had only two opens in the finale, but fell 191-177.

“They didn’t bowl a bad ninth game, a couple of missed spares. It was close. It wasn’t a blowout, but it was still a little bit of a letdown. We easily should have won this match just being consistent,” Bourcier said.

Rhinelander again hit a lull in the middle games of their second match against Lakeland, but squeaked out 155-151 and 147-142 wins in Games 3 and 4 that helped them build a 4-0 lead in the match. After dropping the fifth game 179-149, the Hodags responded with their best game of the day, a 235-169 win in Game 6, to clinch the dual.

“Same story from last week. You’ve just got to stay smooth, stay consistent, hit your marks so we can move you around and go from there,” Bourcier said. “When they put their foot back on the pedal, they take back off. We, as coaches, have got to get them to not coast after that first game. 

Alex Hall paced the Hodags, filling 30 of his 36 farms with 17 strikes. Blake Klingen was right behind at 29 of 36 with 17 strikes. Dominic Hakala was 27 of 36 with 14 strikes, Alsager was 26 of 36 with a team-high 19 strikes and Silas Johnson went 16 of 36 with 7 strikes. 

“Overall, we’re happy with the kids. Alex had six opens, had a decent day. Blake had a decent day. Dom had nine opens, Oren had 10, but a lot of strikes in there. Silas improved quite a bit. We’ve got something we can build on there,” Bourcier said.

The split moved the Hodags to 2-2 on the season.

Hodag girls drop two matches

The Rhinelander/Elcho girls’ team couldn’t sustain a fast start as it lost both of its matches on Sunday, 6-3 to D.C. Everest/Wittenberg and 7-2 to Merrill/Tomahawk.

The Hodags start strong against Everest/Wittenberg, wining the first three games 146-112, 173-1616 and 189-162. Those would be Rhinelander’s best three games, however, as the Everest co-op stormed back to run the final six games of the series. 

Rhinelander started with a 156-155 win over the defending state champs from Merrill/Tomahawk, but lost three in a row after that before taking the fifth game 137-122. The Hodags didn’t have a game higher than 133 the rest of the way as Merrill/Tomahawk claimed the match.

“Our energy level just sank,” Hodag girls’ coach Cory Dellenbach said. “It seems to be a common thing with this girls team and we need to find a way to keep that energy level up there. Even though we lost to them, many of the games were just 20-30 pins away, so we kept it close and I was happy about that.”

Johanna Dellenbach lad the Hodags going 28 of 36 on the day with nine strikes. She was followed by Addison Habeck (21 of 34, 12 strikes).

“Addison was on in that game, her ball had nice reaction and was finding the pocket pretty much all morning,” coach Dellenbach said. “Johanna got off to a bit of a slow start, but came back towards the end.”

Alyssa Habeck was 19 of 30 with three strikes, Oliver Doppke was 17 of 28 with three strikes Katrina Roof went 9 of 26 with a pair of strikes, Zeva Barrett was 4 od 12 with two strikes and Joselyn Sevensen was 3 of 12 with a strike.

Like the boys’ squad, coach Dellenbach noted a different dynamic taking on the girls from the dissolved JV squad, which gave the team more bowlers than available starting spots in the lineup.

“It’s difficult to do that with seven bowlers and wanting your best ones out there for the best chances for wins,” he said. “It’s only going to be harder when we’re back up to 8 bowlers in December. The girls can’t get discouraged, keep showing up to practices, keep working on your own at the lanes and improving.”

Middle schoolers swept by Everest

The Hodag middle school team was down a bowler on Sunday, and could not overcome the penalty for bowling short in a 7-0 loss to D.C. Everest. With only four bowlers, the team was forced to take zeroes in two frames each game. Rhinelander’s best total game in a 140-122 loss in Game 4.

Brighton Walkowski led the team filling 11 of 14 frames with six strikes. Natalie Dellenbach was 8 of 14 with two strikes Charlotte Pruess was 5 of 14 with two strikes and Xane Kallio was 3 of 14 with a strike.

“Brighton was a surprise in this match. He was hitting his marks, following through and doing everything we want him to,” coach Dellenbach noted. “The kids could have easily been discouraged, but they kept their spirits up and bowled well. Xane is making improvements being so new to the team and Charlotte is honing in her bowling skills too. These two will continue to work and only improve and I’m looking forward to that.”

Up next

The Hodags won’t bowl again until Dec. 15 back at Dale’s Weston Lanes. It will be rounds 5 and 6 of the 10-round District season for the high school squads. The Hodag boys will take on Amherst and Waupaca while the Hodag girls will take on the Manawa and Amherst/Stevens Point co-ops. The middle school team will face Antigo No. 1 in the third round of its seven-round schedule.