Since the Nebraska School Activities Association sanctioned bowling as a sport three years ago, only one girls team has been able to be queen of the lanes.
On Tuesday night, they did it again.
The Wayne High girls bowling team capped another outstanding season with their third straight state title, winning the first Class B title in a four-game victory over Hastings Tuesday night at Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln.
The Blue Devil girls, winners of the first two single-class titles in 2021 and 2022, led the way in Class B from start to finish this year and ran the table in the double-elimination Baker-format competition Tuesday, getting wins over Humphrey-Lindsay Holy Family (3-0), Howells-Dodge (3-0) and Waverly (3-2) to reach the finals.
They spotted Hastings -- who came in from the losers bracket with a win over Waverly -- the first game, losing 187-149, then won the next two games (168-137, 148-145) before coming to a close battle in the fourth game that eventually went to a roll-off.
Jersi Jensen got the Blue Devils to the sudden-death roll-off with a key strike and nine-pin spare to tie the match at 159-159. The tie was broken with a single-frame roll-off that started with Jensen and Lindsay Niemann matching their opponents' scores. In the third round of the roll-off, senior Riley Haschke put down nine pins to Hastings' seven, giving Wayne the win and the championship.
More to come in this week's edition of The Wayne Herald.
