Boys’ Bowling
Stuyvesant’s boys’ varsity bowling team, the Hookers, made it to the playoffs with a 13-0 record. They lost only one game (each match is best two out of three) in the entire regular season. This performance gave Stuyvesant the 23rd seed in the 45-team playoffs and paired them against Lehman High School, the 42nd seed, for the first round match, held on Wednesday, November 12 at Leisure Time Lanes.

Stuyvesant rolled in with a great deal of confidence – perhaps too much. They bowled casually, assured that they would win. “We were pretty laidback because they were the underdog,” senior and captain Simon Man said. “We knew it would be an easy match, so we had fun.” Out of the eight players who bowled, only two rolled above their average. Junior Tony Shan bowled a 156, 44 pins above his average, while junior Steven Lau bowled a 174, almost 30 pins above his average. Although Stuyvesant did not perform as well as expected, it beat Lehman High School with ease, winning Game A 551-516 and Game B 498-465.

After the match, Stuyvesant practiced with a playful and nonchalant atmosphere. As the team took practice rolls, they joked around while critiquing each other’s form.

Although victory in the first round came with relative ease to the Hookers, they knew that their next match, to be held on Monday, November 17 against the 10th seeded New Dorp High School, would be much more challenging. “It’s sort of strange for us because this game was so easy, while our next game will be much harder,” Man said.

Although some team members approached the next round of the playoffs with apprehension, some were more confident. “These lanes are at least oiled well, so several players will have a chance to bowl better,” junior Leo Ernst said.

Several players shared Ernst’s confidence. “We underperformed here,” junior Zachary Weiner said of the Lehman Match. “We downplayed it a little and did not come in with the right attitude. We can definitely improve”

Unfortunately for Stuyvesant, confidence was not enough against the higher seeded New Dorp team. The Hookers bowled well – six out of the eight bowlers scored above their regular season averages – but they still could not match New Dorp. In the match, its A-team averaged 198 pins each, and its B-team averaged 154 pins each. New Dorp won the match in two straight games, putting an end to Stuyvesant’s playoff run.

This was a disheartening loss for the Stuyvesant team, because they bowled one of the best games of their season. “Their [New Dorp’s] averages were much higher [than ours] to begin with, and they really just performed better than could be expected,” Man said. “We certainly did not under-perform.”

Although Stuyvesant’s bowling season is officially over, they went out with a bang. “We did as well as we could’ve at this point in the season,” coach Timothy Pon said about Monday’s loss. “Seventy-five percent of the players scored above their averages.” There had been notable improvement in each player’s performance over the course of the season, Pon noted.

In addition to individual development, the bowling team had more unity. “There’s been a real team chemistry this year,” Man said. “When you have that kind of morale, everyone bowls better.”

Girls’ Bowling
After the Pinheads, Stuyvesant’s varsity girls’ bowling team, won their first round playoff match against 24th seeded Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School on Wednesday, November 12, the atmosphere was celebratory. Teammates congratulated each other and shared baked goods, while coach and physical education teacher Peter Bologna recorded the match’s statistics.

Stuyvesant finished the regular season with a 9 – 1 record. “We started out really strongly,” senior and Co-captain Karen Mui said. “Then we became relaxed. Towards the middle of the season we let it slip a little, but we’ve been improving steadily since then.” Stuyvesant’s strong regular season performance earned it the ninth seed in the playoffs.

In Wednesday’s match, five of eight bowlers matched or beat their average scores for the regular season. The best example of this was Irene Ng, who bowled 188 pins, compared to her average of 126 during the regular season. Ng managed to close every frame, meaning that she bowled either a strike or a spare each time. “They did exceptionally well today,” Bologna said of his team. “My A team bowled to their potential, and my B team had a very standout game. Their performance was very commendable—we really stepped it up for the playoffs.”

In the second round of playoffs, the Pinheads played eighth seeded Abraham Lincoln High School on Monday, November 17. Because Lincoln was seeded only one slot higher than Stuyvesant, there was no clear favorite and the match was up in the air. Lincoln was carried in the regular season by senior Marissa Gargiulo, who averaged 196 pins a game and once bowled 245 pins in a single game. The rest of the team, nonetheless, had averages that were comparable to Stuyvesant’s.

Stuyvesant approached this match with confidence. Coming off what he called a “commendable” first-round performance, Bologna was assured that his team had the potential to make this game just as easy as their previous one. “We cannot let a bad ball ruin our next frame,” he said. “We have to take each frame independently.”

The Pinheads knew that they had to go into the second round with optimism and concentration. “We just need to focus,” senior and co-captain Anna Zhang said. “We usually focus by the middle of our games, but we need to get started sooner.”

Despite these attempts to increase their focus, the Pinheads lost two games to one. Lincoln won the A-game by a score of 538-502. Stuyvesant then took the B-game, 457-410, forcing a third game. Lincoln won this final C game, 578-500.

Although this match knocked the girls’ team out of the playoffs, they do not consider it a disappointing performance. “They got the better of us. They had some issues with their bowlers as well, but they were able to come out on top,” Bologna said. “We were very evenly matched. We have good bowlers, they had one really good bowler. It kind of evened out. We were in the match the whole time.”

The Pinheads have come a long way. “After losing so many seniors last year, a lot of people thought that we weren’t going to do as well this season as we did,” Bologna said. “We managed to take our division this season, as well as making it to the second round of the playoffs. My goal is always to make the playoffs. So it’s been a successful season.”

Both Stuyvesant bowling teams are mainly held back by lack of funding. The teams do not have enough of a budget to allow for regular practices, which would consist of them having to rent lanes consistently. “Unfortunately we do not have as much funds as we would like, because I would like to practice more often,” Bologna said. “But, we do our own fundraising—bake sales and stuff, to try to let us practice.”

Although the boys’ bowling team is in the same predicament, both teams deal with it differently. The boys’ team resorts more to small group practice sessions on weekends, while the girls’ team holds fundraisers to allow themselves to practice as a team.

In addition, coaching is handled differently between the boys’ and girls’ teams. Pon expects players to practice on their own time with their teammates, so that they can help one another improve their games.

Bologna has a more involved approach. “They’ve learned a lot about bowling through practices, and the reading material I’ve given them,” Bologna said. “Some even watch videos to hone their techniques.”

Although each coach has a different approach, it seems as if both methods have worked—both the boys’ and the girls’ finished their regular seasons on top of their respective divisions in the regular season.