Hodag bowling teams open 2025-26 season

The Rhinelander Area Youth Bowling Club kicked off its 2025-26 season with its first Division 9 dual meets of the year Sunday, Nov. 9 at Dale’s Weston Lanes.

The club is fielding three squads this season — a boys’ varsity team comprised entirely of Rhinelander High School bowlers, a co-ed JV team that includes bowlers from Rhinelander, Three Lakes, Phelps and Elcho, and a middle school squad of bowlers mainly from James Williams Middle School.

The varsity squad, down to Division 2 this year, split its two matches, falling to Iola-Scandinavia 7-2 in the opener before rallying to beat Manawa 5-4 in the final match. The JV team scored a pair of 8-1 wins over Wittenberg/Wausau and Stevens Point while the middle school team rolled to a 3 1/2-3 1/2 tie against Wittenberg-Birnamwood.

Varsity

The Hodags saved their best game for when it mattered most on Sunday, rolling a 182 in the eighth game of the second match against Manawa to take a 5-3 lead and clinch the dual. The team had just two open frames in that game as it beat Manawa by 43 pins.

That capped off a seesaw match for the Hodags, who jumped out to a 4-1 lead before dropping back-to-back games with scores of 115 and 116.

“Before the start of the eight game I pulled them back and asked, ‘What was up? Show me you want to win this game and match now as you don’t want to have to do it in the ninth game because the outcome is in their favor,’” club program director Mike Bourcier said. “They did, they had drive and determination and it was their best game of the day.”

The team averaged 136.1 pins per game and filled 54% of its frames in the win over Manawa. That was a tick up from the opener, where the team averaged 133.1 pins per game with a 51% fill rate. 

The Hodags eked out Game 2 142-140 and Game 5 137-102 to trail Iola 3-2 in the opening match, but the Thunderbirds swept the final four games to close out the match.

“The shot played tough yesterday for everyone and required them to roll the ball with a higher degree of accuracy,” Bourcier said. “I told them that strikes weren’t going to come easy today and we don’t need a lot of strikes to win but if they want to win they need to pick up their spares. By looking at the stats, that didn’t happen too often. We easily should have won both matches and most of the games but our goal has to be to improve that as we can make it to state if we do.” 

Senior Dominic Hakala led the Hodags with 11 strikes, 11 spares and 14 opens, while Blake Klingen had 10 strikes, 11 spares and 15 opens. Senior newcomer Leander Sprecksel had seven strikes, six spares and 19 opens on the day, and Jackson Fuss closed with five strikes, 12 spares and 17 opens.

Eli Miller had six strikes, five spares and three opens before ending his day in the first match after an injury to his throwing hand. 

Freshman Brighton Walkowski had five strikes, six spares and 17 opens on the day.

JV

Because of the number of Rhinelander High School bowlers the club possesses, Wisconsin High School Bowling Club rules dictated that the club was unable to have a co-op with other schools on its varsity team. Because of that, one of the team’s top bowlers from last year — junior Oren Alsager of Three Lakes —was on the JV roster, along with a pair of bowlers who were on the club’s girls team last year and a couple of other younger bowlers. 

Alsager led all Rhinelander bowlers on Sunday with 15 strikes, 14 spares and only nine opens in 36 frames. 

The Hodags didn’t drop a single game against Wausau/Wittenberg in the opening match, opening with a 179-113 win. There were two tied games in the match. The teams split Game 2 121-121 and Game 9 124-124. 

The JV team dropped Game 3 by two pins against Stevens Point (124-122), but cruised the rest of the way. The team averaged 141.6 pins with a 52% fill rate against Wausau and 140.4 pins with a 57% fill rate against Stevens Point. 

“The team had good positive attitude all day. They all worked together and picked each other up,” coach Kevin Litzen said.

Freshman Charlie Duquaine from Phelps had 10 strikes, 11 spares and 15 opens. 

Alyssa Habeck wrapped up with five strikes, 13 spares and 18 opens. Oliver Doppke had six strikes, nine spares and 21 opens. Silas Johnson closed out with five strikes, 12 spares and 19 opens. 

Middle school

Tied 3-3 after six games, Rhinelander and Wittenberg split the rubber game of their seven-game series 139-all to settle for a draw in their only dual of the day. 

Rhinelander took the first two games, then dropped three straight before squaring the match with a 100-94 win in Game 6. The squad averaged 112.3 pins per game with a 40% fill rate. 

“It was a good match. I learned a few things about our young middle schoolers and they’re going to get better,” coach Cory Dellenbach said.

Natalie Dellenbach paced the team with two strikes, seven spares and five opens on the day. Charlotte Preuss had four strikes, four spares and six opens; Xane Kallio had a strike, four spares and nine opens; Levi Lundberg had a strike, a spare and 10 opens. 

Haylee Anderson had three spares on the day, Marshall Roberts had one spare and Maggie Campbell bowl four frames but did not record a mark.

“I have four new kids really on the team with Haylee, Levi and Marshall all sixth graders and then returning I have Natalie, Charlotte and Xane,” coach Dellenbach said. “The older kids are helping the younger (ones). We’re going to get better with more work.” 

Up next

All three teams will be back in action on Sunday, Dec. 14 at Dale’s Weston Lanes for the second high school dual meet and the second middle school meet. High school bowls at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and middle school at 3 p.m.