The season is over, and after coming up just short at the regional meet, it’s time to look back on what turned out to be a pretty good season for Jesuit Bowling.
Fall
The 2022-23 bowling season started in resounding fashion for Jesuit, as the Rangers scored 15-0 wins over Lake Dallas, MacArthur, and Irving Nimitz to open the season. The dominant started on November 12th against Lake Dallas with the top scorer being junior captain Christopher Ellis. Chris racked up a 307 two-game score with a 165 in game one and a 142 in game two. Jack Golembeski bowled Jesuit’s second-highest game of the day with a 164, combining with a 125 from William Martin for a 289-215 match victory. Close behind was John Risinger, who scored a 302 with games of 145 and 157.
The second of these dominant victories came just three days later on November 15th when the Rangers swept MacArthur. Jesuit secured a near 400-pin victory in match play, then followed up with a 200-pin victory in baker games en route to a dominant, 15-0 win. The Rangers were led by Sophomore sensation Kevin Martinez, who bowled a 182 and 163 to score a team-high 345 match score on the afternoon. Chase Hollman racked up a 163, matching Martinez for the second-highest score of the afternoon.
The Rangers continued their hot start against Irving Nimitz, also sweeping them 15-0. Christopher Ellis scored a 214 in the second game of his split series with William Martin. The 214 scored by Ellis is the team’s best score of the season and helped Martin and Ellis score a 344-167 victory. Kevin Martinez scored a 385 series with a 208 and 177, recording the team’s top series of the year thus far.
The next match of the season was against an old rival and the defending district champions, Flower Mound Marcus. This time the team got some revenge in a 14-1 beatdown of the Marauders. The Rangers were once again led by captain Christopher Ellis who scored a 334 on the series. This was followed by a 331 from Chase Hollman (156-175). Jesuit also saw wins from Jack Golembeski (297, 162-135) and a split 283 from William Martin (154) and Ben Fernandez (129).
Spring
The Rangers came back from winter break on fire, after starting the season 4-0 and only giving up a single point. However, all good things must come to an end and the first match after the break was against the powerhouse Lewisville Fighting Farmers.
Jesuit Dallas saw several strong scores, but dropped a 14-1 bout to Lewisville, suffering its first loss of the 2022-23 season. The Rangers’ top scorer was Chase Hollman, who bowled a 397 (188-209) to secure Jesuit’s lone dual match point of the meet. William Martin (166-172) dropped a narrow, 350-338 decision at second-flight singles, John Risinger opened the day with a 192 before scoring a 142 in the second game in a 390-334 loss at No. 1 singles, Kevin Martinez tacked on a 299 (163-136) and Jack Golembeski finished out the Jesuit lineup with a 315 (144-171).
The team responded well after the humbling defeat and earned a narrow 9-6 victory over Lake Dallas, to move to 5-1 on the year. The Rangers secured three match points victories on the day, led by a team-high 316 (188-128) from William Spicer. William Martin bowled a 165, which combined with a 101 from Corbin Hicks spotted the Rangers a 266-254 match point. The Rangers capped a strong match play outing with a 210-203 win in No. 5 singles, led by the tandem of Andrew Abraham (87) and freshman Joseph Kohout (123).
The Rangers kept rolling, as they secured back-to-back shutout victories over Irving Nimitz and MacArthur. against Nimitz, the Rangers were led by Chase Hollman, who rolled a 387 match score with games of 184 and 203. William Spicer added a 386 (193-193). Against MacArthur, Corbin Hicks bowled a team-high 356, bowling two games of 178 for a 356-195 match play victory. Chase Hollman (171-155) secured another 300 series while picking up a 326-221 match point victory.
Jesuit kept the winning streak alive with a victory over MacArthur. Christopher Ellis secured the team’s top match play score, bowling a 414 with a team-leading 243 in the second game. Jack Golembeski secured a 404 (190-214) and Kevin Martinez added a 385 (166-219) as both picked up victories in match play.
However, once again a solid winning streak was spoiled by Lewisville High School. Jesuit fell 14-1, however, they did cement their place in the postseason. The Rangers were led by Kevin Martinez, who bowled a 359 match score (161-198) to earn Jesuit’s lone match point of the contest. The team also saw another strong performance from William Martin, who bowled a 297 (169-128).
Postseason
Despite the setback against Lewisville, the team regrouped and looked toward the postseason. First up was the district tournament, a round-robin style event in which the shorthanded varsity team took home third behind strong performances from sophomores Kevin Martinez and Corbin Hicks.
The Rangers finished the season at 8-2, good enough for a spot in the regional tournament. The Ranger lineup, consisting of William Spicer, William Martin, Kevin Martinez, John Risinger, Corbin Hicks, Jack Golembeski, Christopher Ellis, and Chase Hollman, competed in a stacked field for the right to go to the state tournament. Kevin Martinez opened the individual portion of the team championship with a 217, the highest score on the team. William Spicer recorded a 198, and Jack Golembeski racked up a 194.
Jesuit scored 170 or above in four of the eight bakers games, including a round-high 199 in the second game. The Rangers would finish the team portion of the championship with 2,223 pins, placing fifth in a packed field in which third through fifth were separated by 76 pins. However, this impressive performance was not enough to qualify for the state tournament and the season concluded at regionals.
Looking Back & Bowlers’ Thoughts
The season didn’t end the way the team wanted, however, there is tremendous optimism heading into the offseason. Seven out of the eight bowlers that participated in regionals will be returning for another season, and with many of the competitors getting weaker the stage is set for a return to the top of the district and a possible run to the state tournament. Sophomore captain Kevin Martinez gave his thoughts on the season saying:
“It was a good season, we had some ups and downs. I think we did a good job in the end. Hopefully, we can come back next year and have another great season.” -Kevin Martinez ’25Â
This sentiment was echoed by the rest of the team with junior captain Chris Ellis saying
The ending wasn’t what we wanted, but we’ll be back next year better than ever.” -Chris Ellis ’24
With almost the entire team returning, the Rangers will come back stronger. The goal next year will be state or bust and this team is entirely capable of making it.
Stay tuned to The Roundup for more coverage on bowling!
