Girls Bowling: Andrew finishes second, advances to state

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Andrew missed advancing to the second day at the state meet by 117 pins last year.

At the time, the Thunderbolts vowed to get back to state and make the second day.

They will get that chance after taking second place at the Joliet West sectional Saturday at Town and Country Lanes in Joliet.

Minooka won the program’s third sectional title, all coming in the last three years with a 6,182. Andrew took the second and last team state spot with a 5,819.

“They are so excited,” Andrew coach Julie DuChene said. “This is the second year in a row we made it. We started slow the first game, but hit our stride.”

Andrew shrugged off an 842 in game 1 by rolling a pair of 1,000 games to end the morning and begin the afternoon session.

“It was the nervousness of getting started and once they got that out of the way, they did fine,” DuChene said.

Cassie Boat led the charge, taking third with a 1,259 six-game series. She ended the morning with a 266. Nicole Zopf took fifth with a 1,226, which included a 247 and four other games of 200 or better.

“Cassie Boat and Nicole Zopf really were consistent the entire day,” DuChene said.

Minooka took command by rolling a 1,165 on the same lanes as Andrew.

“We shot a big second game against Andrew and that was big,” Minooka coach Frank Yudzentis said about a 1,165. “It helped us relax a little bit and create a gap between us and them. The key was we weren’t bowling against the teams we were playing. We were bowling the lanes.”

Minooka’s Emily Koulis won the individual sectional title, rolling a 1,309 six-game series. It included a 279 in game 2.

Individually, Joliet West’s Julianne Kowalski earned her first trip to the state meet by rolling a 1,208 series. She took sixth place, but was the first sectional qualifier. The other was Lincoln-Way West’s Morgan Flaherty (1,192).

Lincoln-Way West took third with a 5,623 pinfall and host Joliet West was fourth with a 5,528.