The Wayland girls’ varsity bowling team lifted its dual match season record to 10-0 Tuesday afternoon with a 29-1 triumph over Middleville Thornapple Kellogg.

The boys’ team, at the same time, bounced back from a disappointing loss to Hopkins last Thursday by getting past the TK guys 17-13.

“For most of the team, it was their first time bowling on lanes with above ground ball returns,” coach Bill Holbrook commented.

The contests were held at the MiddleVilla Lanes.

The ladies started the night taking both Baker games and total pins 147-122 and 147-98 for a quick 10-0 lead. They continued to dominate in the first team individual game 788-571 and extended their lead to 19-0. They finished up the night taking the last game 753-593 and 10 of the last 11 points.

Leading the way for the Lady Wildcat was senior captain Aubree Hodges 168-185=353.

“She is starting to see her hard work in practice payoff in matches,” Holbrook said. “It’s great to see!”

Other scores for the night included sophomore Sydney Urben 179-153=332; junior Alicia Sweeney 172-131=303 and sophomore Marissa Bruinsslot 154.

“Tonight was a bit of a roller coaster for some of the girls,” the coach said. “First time in this bowling center and trying to learn how to deal with the above ground ball returns proved to be all some of them could handle tonight, but they were able to compete to the end and focus on the task at hand. A definite learning experience!”

Coach Sherry Miklusicak’s Wildcats “started out mighty slow tonight.”

They tied the first Baker game 158-158 and then found themselves behind by a score of 8-2 after losing the second Baker 175-134.

“We needed a good start in the individuals and we accomplished that 7-2 putting the overall score at 10-9,” Miklusicak said. The good news was Nick Couturier’s 225 game. The bad news was that Wayland lost its anchor bowler, Chad Heintzelman, in the middle of this match to a painful pulled muscle, which didn’t allow him to complete.

“What it means to be a team is that when someone is down, someone else steps up,” Miklusicak said. “Michael Foley sure did that in game two! He led all scorers with an impressive 244 game! Boy did that help with the total pins we needed to be sure to take.”

So, the Wildcats learned they could come from behind winning 17-13 on the road without their anchor performer.

Next up will be Ottawa Hills on Thursday afternoon at Airport Lanes.

Pictured: Senior Lady Wildcats Captain Aubree Hodges