The Millard West varsity and JV bowling teams competed in a duel against Papillion-La Vista South on Thursday, Jan. 6, going 3-1 on the day. 

First up were the varsity girls. The Wildcats were defeated by a score of 13-8. Leading the Wildcats in game 1 was sophomore Gwen Naumann with a score of 162, while freshman Kelsey Maulick was close behind with a score of 145. Junior Jillian Weland finished with a score of 121. Three pins behind her was junior Emily Ciesielski with 118, and sophomore Lacy Nemitz rounded out the scoring with a 110.

In the second individual game, Naumann once again led the Wildcats with a score of 168. Weland was not far behind with a score of 145, and Ciesielski scored 139 pins. Rounding out the scoring for the Wildcats was Maulick with 131 and Nemitz with 110. Overall, the team was a little below average because of the lane conditions.

“I feel like I did pretty well individually,” Ciesielski said. “The oil on the lanes was really hard to work with. As a team, we need to work on keeping the energy up. When we start bad, I feel like it’s hard to get going.”

Just like the girls, the varsity boys faced a strong Papillion-La Vista South team, falling by a score of 18-3. Kai Smith led the Wildcats with a score of 199, followed by junior Drew Lehman with a score of 160. Senior Richard Ellsworth was close behind with 153. Junior Sean Murphy and senior Nolan Nemitz rounded out game 1 with scores of 143 and 124 respectively. After game 1, the Wildcats were behind 6-2. The team struggled with consistency. Usually, the balls hooks left, but this time they stayed on the right side of the lane, resulting in more gutter balls.

“I think not only me but our team’s focus on spares can improve,” Murphy said. “It can help so much in our final score which can lead to more wins.”

Smith scored the only team point for the Wildcats in game 2, but they won the best of three Baker series to end the game losing 13-8. 

The JV girls got the only win of the day for Millard West, outlasting Papillion-La Vista 11-10 in the final Baker game. Freshman Jillian Ellsworth led her team with 116 pins in the first game, followed by freshman Shayla Hood with 112 and junior Jayci Reimers with 89. Hood led the Wildcats with a score of 148 during game 2, while Ellsworth and Reimers were close behind at 111 and 105.

“I thought overall we did well,” head coach Megan Smith said. “Papio South has a really strong team, and I thought that was discouraging for some of our bowlers. They kept cheering each other on.”

The JV1 boys fell to the Titans 18.5-2.5. Vlaggo Nyman led the Wildcats in their first individual game with a score of 151, followed close behind by Connor at 150. Senior Ivan Smith came in third for the Wildcats with a score of 121, followed by Cam McCubbins at 112. The second game wasn’t much better for the Wildcats, as the Titans scored all eight points.

The JV2 boys bowled below average and dropped their match to the Titans 17-4. Senior Bryan Stuckenschmidt led the team with 150 points in their first individual game. Sophomore Braian Kaczba recorded a score of 128, followed by freshman Tanner Baker who knocked down 103 pins. Freshman Thijs Dewey scored an 87 to round out the Wildcats’ first game. The Wildcats were down 5-3 after game 1. Scores didn’t get much better in game 2, with the Wildcats scoring only one point the rest of the way, and falling in the Baker game. 

The Wildcats hope to get back on track when the boys take on Gretna and the girls take on Gretna and Marian on Thursday, Jan. 13.