Cougars Finish 5th at State Tournament in Wausau

The Lady Cougars packed their bowling balls and shoes and headed to the State Tournament in Wausau. Their goal was to make it to the playoff bracket after their 15 qualifying game block. The girls had worked hard at practice in the month before the tournament, and they were going to find out soon if it worked. The payoff for all their hard work showed up quickly.
The Cougars opened up with a 205 game and then a 208 in the second game. The third and fourth games were 158 and 191. The fifth game showed up as a 179, and their total for the first five games was 941, a 188 average with only 9 open frames, but 24 strikes to help out the open frames. The hard work was paying dividends, and the girls were rocking. The next five games saw more good bowling with high games of 175, 179, and a 190 game, and at 10 games, the team was averaging 175.
In the last set of 5 games, the Cougars opened up with another 203 game and a 178 to follow. In the 13yh and 14th games, they slipped to a couple of 140 games and came back with a 162 finale.
Final total pinfall for the Cougars was 2590 for an average of 173 per game.
“The team play was outstanding,” said Coach Serwe. “Everybody was over the season fill percentage by 10 points, which equates to 1 more strike or spare for each individual for a 15-game stretch”. Freshmen Viola Schrauth and Ava Polzin both filled 60% of their frames, which is outstanding for two freshmen. Kendall Boegel’s stats came in at 68% for the qualifying round. Then came the stats of the other 3 juniors, Genna Grahl, Lillee Kiehnau, and Abby Jarmuz, a whopping 78% fill percentage each. “It was tournament time, and this team went way above and beyond. Their team spirit was incredible and supportive,” said Coach Serwe.

After qualifying in the 15-game block, it was time for the top 5 stepladder, and the Cougars had qualified fifth and would face the #4 qualifier, Merrill/Tomahawk, who had captured the previous two state titles.
Nerves were everywhere, but the Cougars were ready. This group had never been in a playoff before, but they were pumped and ready. The stepladder is only 20 frames, and the winner moves up the stepladder, and the loser goes home
Once again, the Cougars brought it to the table. They opened up with a 183 game to Merrill/Tomahawk’s 164. Now on to game two. The Cougars opened in the first frame, but they had 2 strikes and two spares in the next four. The Cougars were looking good. Frames 6-8 brought more spares and a strike; meanwhile, Merrill/Tomahawk had a 3-bagger to gain some ground on the Cougars. Things were still ok for the Cougars, if they spare out or strike out. The 9th frame saw a chopped 3, 6,10 on the spare shot. Now it was down to the 10th frame for both teams. Merrill/Tomahawk’s anchor got up and threw a ball and almost left a pocket 7-10, except a pin slid over and took out the 10. Now it was Abby Jarmuz’s turn. Abby let go of what looked like a good shot, but the 5-7 was left standing. Merrill/Tomahawk’s anchor picked up the 7 pin; now Abby must pick up the 5-7 (a tough split conversion). Abby let it fly and missed the split by fractions of an inch. The Cougars end up losing by 3 pins and taking 5th place in the State tournament.
“This team was over the top all weekend in every department, spare shooting, strikes, mental focus, and team unity. I am so proud of how this team finished their season,” said Coach Serwe.
Stats for the 15-game qualifying block were as follows (strikes-spares-total frames): Lillee Kiehnau 16-9-32; Kendall Boegel 9-6-22; Ava Polzin 9-8-28; Viola Schrauth 6-8-23; Abby Jarmuz 20-6-33; Genna Grahl 6-9-19.