FHSAA bowling finals recap: Seabreeze girls finish 4th in bid to reclaim state title

ORLANDO — Madison Kuenning promised tears at the conclusion of the Florida High School Athletic Association's bowling championships, regardless of whether Seabreeze High's girls could reclaim their championship or not.

Sure enough, when eliminated Thursday afternoon in a state-championship rematch with Space Coast, tissues were offered and waterworks flowed — except for senior Kara Beissel, who was seemingly as determined not to crack as she was to win.

"It's not sad, it's happy," Beissel, a Youngstown State commit, said. "We didn't end how we wanted, but … the fact we were able to come back from two games down is remarkable. Typically, you kind of get down on yourself. But we brought the energy back up and kept going.

Regional golf roundup: Spruce Creek in state tournament position, Seabreeze girls duo in

"I wish we won the fifth game, but everything happens for a reason. We finished fourth, and that's amazing."

Beissel, however, nearly broke down at the thought of her last match with a core group of teammates that she has bowled with since middle school — fellow seniors Breanna Hess, Stacey Spaulding and Kuenning, as well as junior Hailey Halcomb. Spaulding cried within minutes of the final ball, but composed herself and spoke about a special group and its accomplishments.

"This is the last time I am going to bowl with some of these girls. This is the last time I am going to wear this jersey. I'm just cherishing all the memories that I've had being on the team for four years," Spaulding said.

"It's nice to know that we were able to make the cut and perform the way we know that we can perform on the lanes. Granted, it's a little hard because we have seen people come and go — like Sofia (Allem,, who graduated) last year, and Breanna, who just came back from her back injury. We're all each others' best friends, and it means a lot for us to get to bowl together and to have our last moments doing what we love for our school."

Seabreeze fell short in its bid for a second state championship, finishing in fourth place with a best-of-five loss in the consolation bracket semifinals. The Sandcrabs dug out of a 2-0 hole and forced the decisive fifth game, but the Vipers bowled nine strikes to take the match.

The Sandcrabs cruised through the first two rounds Wednesday morning with 3-0 victories against Cambridge Christian and Cape Coral, but were on the wrong end of a sweep in their Wednesday finale against East River.

Seabreeze bounced back with a 3-1 triumph Thursday morning against Oasis, and waited more than five hours for its anticipated clash with Space Coast, featuring individual runner-up Emily Street.

An uncharacteristic number of difficult splits and missed opportunities to pick up spares ultimately proved to be the Sandcrabs' undoing in a showdown of the last two state champion teams.

"We didn't carry as much, and we missed a few makeables … but we did great," Beissel said. "We finished good, and that's all that matters."

As for the boys' Baker tournament, DeLand and Seabreeze survived to see the final day but were eliminated in back-to-back matches Thursday morning by the same opponent, Circle Christian School from nearby Winter Springs.

District 3 champion DeLand earned the No. 8 seed in Tuesday's qualifying session, but was swept in the first round by Leesburg. The Bulldogs rebounded with relatively emphatic victories over Lyman and Bayside, but were ousted in four games despite rolling scores of 215, 214, 225 and 214.

Thirteenth-seeded Seabreeze, on the other hand, went the distance and prevailed in each of its first two matches against Circle Christian and Pinellas Park. The Sandcrabs slipped into the consolation bracket with a loss to Leesburg, and were beaten in three games by Circle Christian in a rematch.

Seabreeze's Brayden Barnes was the lone local competitor to qualify for the individual state tournament, drawing a tough matchup with Circle Christian's Pancho Johnson — the eventual runner-up — in the opening round. Barnes rebounded to eliminate Archbishop McCarthy's Anderson Albury before bowing out early Wednesday morning in the second round of the consolation bracket to Timber Creek's Bruno Brandao.

DeLand's Jesse Barger just missed the cut for the individual field, tying for 18th place in qualifying with a four-game total of 874 pins. Barnes, by contrast, placed 10th with a score of 895.

Spaulding came closest to cracking the girls' individual tournament, taking 21st with a 785. Flagler Palm Coast's Emma Pezzullo (773), Hess (760), Beissel (754) and Spruce Creek's Samantha Powell (746) each finished among the top-40 of the 220 female bowlers.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: High school bowling: Seabreeze places fourth in FHSAA championships