Even though the GPS bowling team is seeded third from the East-Middle Region in the TSSAA Division II tournament this week in Smyrna, Tenn., coach Jenise Gordon thinks a first- or second-place state finish is a realistic goal.
But reaching Saturday’s final for the first time in program history won’t even be possible unless the Bruisers pull off another first Friday. They are paired in the 1 p.m. EST quarterfinals against St. Benedict, which has been in the last eight finals with 2005-09 titles.
Like GPS, the No. 2 West seed from Cordova is 12-3, but all three of its losses have been against undefeated reigning champion St. Agnes from Memphis.
“The big difference between them and us is that they’ve been there before. They know they can win,” Gordon said Monday after the Bruisers’ practice at Holiday Bowl Hixson. “Our girls believe they can win.”
Gordon said the Bruisers are capable but didn’t bowl well in losing to Donelson Christian Academy and Pope John Paul II in the region playoffs.
GPS has only one senior, Archer Brock, and is led by junior Kara Maynord and sophomores Sydney Leech and Sara Griffith. Those three will bowl in the individual state tournament starting Thursday.
Maynord thinks having been in the individual event last year will help her both there and in adapting back to team play. A different oil pattern is used on the lanes in the two tournaments, and that requires a different approach.
Mainly for that reason, Soddy-Daisy coach David O’Malley Sr. said he would prefer the teams play out before the individuals instead of the other way around. He has four guys and two girls in Division I individual play before the boys try to refocus on improving last year’s runner-up team finish.
“The oil is just different, and you need time to readjust,” said Maynord, whose 157.95 game average for this season was No. 10 among DII girls, with Leech eighth at 161.31.
“I think we can win if we bowl our best, and we had a good practice today,” she added. “We’ve never gotten past St. Benedict, so if we can do that it will really help us.”
Baylor’s girls are seeded fifth from the East/Middle Region and open against Pope John Paul II.
Defending DII boys’ champion McCallie begins with a rematch of the 2010 final against DCA but with a much different outlook: DCA is seeded No. 1 from the region and the Blue Tornado are No. 5. They lost nine of their top 10 bowlers from last year.
Junior Evan Speicher is the Tornado’s lone representative in the individual state with his 10th-best average of 180.17. The DCA starters’ averages are second, fifth, sixth, ninth, 13th and 14th.
“We’re really young, and a number of the teams are really strong,” McCallie coach Josh Deitrick said. “But in bowling it’s really anybody’s game at this level. Looking at averages on paper, we’re definitely underdogs, but we’ve taken teams with high averages to the state and lost, so we’re going to give it our best shot and have fun with it.”
The Soddy-Daisy boys, by contrast, are serious about improving one spot from 2010. The Trojans have seniors Matt Lyon and Kaleb Langston and juniors Allyn Picket and Joseph Leffew in the individual state, plus two other good senior starters in Andy Holden and Adam Gravitt.
“I’d say if it’s not us and Smyrna in the final round, everybody will be shocked,” Leffew said Monday after the Trojans totaled 3,832 pins in a sectional romp.
Lyon and Langston reminded that defending champ Wilson Central and Hardin County also will be formidable.
“We’re capable of 4,000,” said Lyon, a two-time state Mr. Bowling and the individual tournament runner-up in 2009. “We’ve just got to give 110 percent every game, whether it’s in the individual or the team part.”
Niki Bell and Kylee Saunders are the Soddy-Daisy girls competing individually, along with Chattanooga Christian’s Hannah Goodwin, Sequatchie County’s Megan Hill and Walker Valley’s Lauren Smeltzer, Chelsey McCormack, Samantha Pope and Kayla McDavid. Joining the four Trojans in the Division I boys’ individual tourney are Bradley Central’s Coty Rymer and Isaac Joy, Walker Valley’s Shelby Rummel and McMinn County’s Craig Ratledge.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.