The Wayland girls’ varsity bowling team had a bad day at the Zeeland East tournament Saturday, not looking at all like the No. 5 Division 2 team in the state.

Coach Bill Holbrook said, “The day starts out pretty good and next thing you know a couple things don’t go your way and things start to go sideways. You keep working hard at it but it seems the harder you try the worse it gets and before you know it, the day has spiraled out of control.  That was our day today.”
For the season the Lady Wildcats have averaged 161 in Baker games. Today (in an all-Baker tournament) they averaged 141.

“We are not as good of a spare shooting team as we should be yet,” Holbrook said. “For the season the ladies are at 55% spare conversion in the Baker format. I’d like to see us at 65% or higher. Today…41%.  That there pretty much sums up the day.”

The Lady Wildcats still qualified seventh but lost by three pins in the first round to Kenowa Hills.

The day was not without its bright spots, the biggest being sophomore Makayla Konecny who took full advantage of her opportunity to join the varsity squad. She struck on 30% of her first ball attempts and converted 58% of her spares. Both stats led the team Saturday.

“The girls never quit working at it today, but just could not right the ship the today,” Holbrook said. “Those days happen and I’d rather see it at a tournament like this than in a key conference matchup or regional tournament.”

The Lady Wildcats face huge challenges in threestraight away conference matches on consecutive days starting with a key matchup against conference rival Unity Christian Tuesday in Hudsonville.

“I have no doubt we will be ready for that!” the coach said. “I am proud of how hard this group works and I’m confident they will rebound!”