The Wayland girls’ varsity bowling team pulled even with Hudsonville Unity Christian in league standings by taking down the Crusaders 18-12 in a dual match at Airport Lanes Thursday afternoon.

The Wildcat boys, meanwhile, recorded an astonishingly easy 29-1 victory in a contest expected to be much closer.

The Lady Wildcats, with the victory, remained unbeaten in match play this season.

“Although scores were down tonight the competition was not,” coach Bill Holbrook observed.

Unity took the early lead with a 159-150 win in the first Baker game. The Lady Wildcats bounced back taking the second Baker 145-117 and the two-game Baker total, 295-276 resulted in Wayland mounting a slim 6-4 lead heading into the first team individual game.

Wayland won the first team individual game 767-733 and copped seven of the available nine points for a 13-6 lead. Pacing the way in game one for the Lady Wildcats was sophomore Sydney Urben with a 192.

However, Unity Christian was not done and it mounted a valiant attempt at a comeback defeating the ‘Cats in game two, 848-832, but only managed to take six of the nine points.

Wayland turned in very strong ninth and 10th frames to ensure taking the final two points of the night by taking the two-game team individual total 1599-1581. Top scores in game 2 for the Wildcats were sophomore Marissa Bruinsslot 192, Sydney Urben 186 and junior Alicia Sweeney 172.

“The Lady Wildcats took a very big step tonight in learning what it means to compete as a team and fight for every pin you can, even if your are way behind in your own match because there are important team total points available every game,” Holbrook said. “For example in the first Baker game the ladies were down early, but a strong ninth and 10th frame performance by Sweeney and Urben resulted in only losing by nine pins. This was critical in game two, as they were able to take that game and make up the nine pins to take the extra two points.

“Same thing can be said in the team individual games where all through the lineup the ladies finished strong to get as many pins as they could ensuring them six of 10 total pin points making it impossible for Unity Christian to complete their comeback attempt.”

The Wildcat boys took on Unity Christian  expecting a close match becausen the pre-conference tournament, Wayland placed above Unity by only 100 pins or so over 12 games. Wayland came out shooting strikes in the first baker game (“Thankfully, as they missed three spares,” coach Sherry Miklusicak pointed out), winning 203 to 163.  The second Baker score was 169 to 125, so Wayland was up 6-0.

Wayland then shot 901 in the first individual game with Cameron Heintzelman’s 234 leading the team followed by Michael Foley’s 191.  Wayland took all but one point this game, securing the win before even bowling the second set of individual games. The second set was led by Austen Begg’s 204 game.

“The final score of 29 -1 is quite impressive, considering that I was expecting a very close match,” Miklusicak said. “Our nemesis of single pin spares didn’t hurt us tonight, but will need to be corrected before next Tuesday’s match versus South Christian.

Next up for Wayland is the Jenison Invitational at 9 a.m. this Saturday at Hudsonville Lanes.