With just one senior on the girls team and none on the boys squad, the Olentangy Liberty High School bowling program understands that its amount of success could vary as the season wears on.
The boys team is expected to have an impact freshman in Carter Street, although he's expected to be out until sometime in January because of an injury, according to 12th-year coach Linda Ridolfo.
"They're coming along," Ridolfo said. "It's hard to say right now because we're still developing. We'd like to win the (OCC-Buckeye Division) and get out of the sectional, and then we have the Olentangy Challenge (Feb. 19), which is going to be a challenge this year because there's four (Olentangy schools)."
Sophomore Nick Bateson has been leading the boys team, which was 2-1 overall and in the Central Ohio High School Bowling Conference-A Division and 1-1 in the OCC-Buckeye before a match against Westerville Central on Dec. 19.
Sophomore Matthew Lawrence returns after falling three pins shy of advancing to the Division I district tournament last season. Junior Andrew Holycross, sophomore Brenden Sheehan and freshman Patrick McDowell are other top bowlers.
Others on the team include junior Jadin Mumaw and sophomores Jason Ferrell and Kenny Tanaka.
The Patriots lost 2018 graduate Daniel Valz, who finished 10th at state last season.
Junior Stephanie Greeno, who fell seven pins shy of advancing to district last season, and junior Brenna Withrow, who led Liberty in COHSBC average (141.6) a year ago, are the top returnees for the girls team.
Other returnees are senior Lauren Suhodolsky, junior Eryn Temby and sophomores Nandini Kasam, Jnapika Palacharia, Karthika Shankar, Manasa Sriram and Meaghan Suhodolsky.
Rounding out the team is freshman Harshini Reddy.
Gymnastics team returns strong trio
The gymnastics team returns three of its top five competitors from last season in seniors Abigail Archer and Chelsea Naples and junior Noelle Meeker after earning a runner-up finish in the OCC-Buckeye.
Sophomore Katie DiSalle also is expected to be one of the top gymnasts under second-year coach Tara Mays.
On Dec. 11, the Patriots opened with a third-place finish (118.95) behind Dublin Jerome (131.5) and host Worthington Kilbourne (129.9) and ahead of Dublin Coffman (78.8) and Dublin Scioto (60).
Also on the team are juniors Caroline Beck, Kathryn Edwards and Courtney Street and freshmen Beth Finn and Kenna Henry.
"(We want them) to enjoy the sport, feel success by increasing their own individual skill set throughout the year and (we want to) help the girls develop into strong young ladies ready for anything they choose to do in their future lives," Mays said.
Boys basketball team out to good start
After opening OCC-Buckeye action with an 81-66 victory over Orange on Dec. 7, the boys basketball team beat Westerville South 69-62 on Dec. 14 in a league contest and Marysville 80-55 on Dec. 15 to improve to 3-1 overall.
Liberty is 2-0 in the OCC-Buckeye heading into its game Friday, Dec. 21, at home against Westerville North, which was a Division I district runner-up last season.
Ben Roderick had 24 points and Nick Nakasian scored 13 against South and Roderick scored 28 against Marysville.
Wrestlers prep for Brecksville
The wrestling team is preparing to compete in the 58th annual Brecksville Holiday Tournament on Dec. 28 and 29 at Brecksville-Broadview Heights.
The Patriots fell short in their bid for a fifth consecutive championship in the Liberty Classic, as they placed second (156.5) of 33 teams in the event held Dec. 14 and 15, behind Macedonia Nordonia (174.5).
Carson Kharchla, the defending Division I state champion at 170 pounds, did not compete in the event. Connor Brady (170) and Kaden Tong (220) both won titles, Jayce Fitzpatrick (145) placed third and Brady Kuhn (heavyweight) was fifth.
Hockey team staying busy
The hockey team has five games still to play before the 2018 portion of its schedule is completed.
The Patriots also play three games over the first six days of January.
Included in that stretch are matchups Dec. 28 against Upper Arlington at OhioHealth Ice Haus, Jan. 2 against Dublin Jerome at Chiller Dublin, Jan. 5 against New Albany at Chiller Easton and Jan. 6 against St. Charles at Chiller North. All four of those opponents are in the CHC-Red along with Liberty and Cincinnati Moeller, which the Patriots won't face until Jan. 27.
Liberty improved to 8-4-3-1 overall with a 3-0 victory over Dublin Coffman on Dec. 17 in CHC action at Chiller Dublin.
The Patriots lost to Lakewood St. Edward 2-1 on Dec. 16 in the championship game of the Parma Padua Franciscan Tournament at OBM Arena in Strongsville.
Also in the tournament, the Patriots lost to St. Edward 4-1 on Dec. 14 and beat Padua 4-0 and Parma Heights Holy Name 4-2 on Dec. 15.
The Patriots opened league play Dec. 9 with a 3-0 victory over UA as Ben Brown, Kevin Springfield and Max Turner each scored a goal and goaltender Andrew Vidrick made 22 saves.
julrey@thisweeknews.com
@UlreyThisWeek
SchedulesBOWLING
*Dec. 4 -- Berlin at Sawmill Lanes
*Dec. 5 -- New Albany at Gahanna Lanes
*Dec. 13 -- Westerville North at Sawmill Lanes
*Dec. 19 -- Westerville Central at Columbus Square Bowling Palace
*Dec. 20 -- Olentangy at Sawmill Lanes
*Jan. 8 -- Grandview at Sawmill Lanes
*Jan. 16 -- Westerville South at Columbus Square Bowling Palace
Jan. 19 -- Central District Preview at Columbus Square Bowling Palace
*Jan. 24 -- Orange at Capri Lanes
Jan. 26 -- Jaguars Baker Marathon at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl
*Jan. 29 -- Big Walnut at Sawmill Lanes
*Feb. 5 -- Delaware at Sawmill Lanes
*Feb. 8 -- Marysville at Marysville Lanes
Feb. 19 -- Olentangy, Berlin and Orange at Sawmill Lanes
GYMNASTICS
Dec. 11 -- at Worthington Kilbourne with Dublin Coffman, Dublin Jerome and Dublin Scioto
Dec. 15 -- Hilliard Invitational at Hilliard Davidson
Dec. 22 -- *Orange, *Big Walnut and Olentangy at Buckeye Gymnastics
Jan. 2 -- at Coffman with Dublin Scioto, Olentangy and Dresden Tri-Valley
Jan. 5 -- Wolfpack Invitational at Worthington Kilbourne
Jan. 9 -- at *Westerville Central with Big Walnut and *Olentangy
Jan. 12 -- McGee Invitational at Coffman
Jan. 21 -- at Olentangy with Big Walnut, Hilliard Bradley, Hilliard Darby, Hilliard Davidson and Upper Arlington
Jan. 23 -- at Marysville
Feb. 4 -- at Davidson with Berlin and Delaware
Feb. 9 -- OCC-Buckeye meet at Thomas Worthington
Feb. 14 -- Beauty and the Beast at Orange
*League contest
Below are the coming schedules for the Liberty boys basketball, girls basketball, hockey, and swimming & diving teams:
BOYS BASKETBALL
*Dec. 21 -- Home vs. Westerville North
GIRLS BASKETBALL
*Dec. 21 -- At Westerville North
HOCKEY
*Dec. 21 -- Watterson at Chiller North
Dec. 22 -- At Gates Mills Gilmour Academy
*Dec. 23 -- St. Charles at OhioHealth Ice Haus
SWIMMING & DIVING
Dec. 21 -- Delaware County Classic at Ohio Wesleyan
*League contest