VOORHEESVILLE — It was a tough season for the Voorheesville bowling team this winter, but Coach Jim Duncan said that it doesn’t quell interest in the team.

The Blackbirds had just three seniors on the team, but its top scorers were underclassmen. One returned to the team after pursuing interests elsewhere.

Voorheesville finished the season with a 3-13 record and in eighth place in the Colonial Council. Lansingburgh, the league winner, had a 15-0-1 record.
"We didn’t have a lot of experience," Duncan said. "Lansingburgh had nine bowlers that had an average of 200 or better."

The Blackbirds also had nine bowlers from last year’s team graduate.
"We lost the whole team," Duncan said. "That made it tough."

The top Voorheesville bowler this winter was sophomore Dan Healey. He returned to bowling after playing basketball last season. He had an average season after missing half of it because he had his tonsils taken out.

Rebecca Duncan had the second highest average with a 181. She is the coach’s daughter.

Both Healey and Duncan were honorable mentions for the Colonial Council all-stars.

The Blackbirds were hurt by a defection. Kevin Tesch who had a 200-plus average quit the team and went to play volleyball, Duncan said.
"He was one of our better bowlers last year," Duncan said. "He wanted to try volleyball."

Senior Nick Baks had the third highest average among the Blackbirds who competed for the whole season. He bowled to a 178.

Anthony Scaccia, a seventh-grader, had a 168 average this season. Ninth-grader Alexa Dillenbeck had a 156 average. Senior Andy Downe bowled a 153 average and sophomore Brian Farley, in his first year of bowling, had a 152 average.

John Springer, a seventh-grader, and senior Sam Mussella also bowled this winter. Springer had a 150 average and Mussella had a 148 average.

Brittany Fahd, an eighth-grader, was also a member of the team, but did not get to bowl in a lot of matches this season.
"She was not in the top eight," Duncan said. "She can’t bowl in varsity matches. We don’t have a junior varsity; she didn’t have anyone to bowl against."

The Blackbirds competed at the Class C sectional meet but didn’t do as well as the team has done in the past.
"This is my eighth year doing this and this was the worst finish," Duncan said. "We finished 16 out of 28 teams."

Healey did well at sectionals, Duncan said. Healey bowled to a total of 1,321 pins and a 220 average in six games. Rebecca Duncan bowled 1,149 pins and a 191 average at sectionals.

Looking ahead

Coach Duncan will be relying on his youthful bowlers to get even better for next season. He also hopes they will continue to be interested in the sport and come out for the team in November.
"We have lots of youth," Duncan said. "Next season, we’ll have young kids and three or four girls. We don’t have a girls’ team. But that never stopped us in the past. We’ve had girls on the league first team. And my daughter, Katie, was the MVP of the league."

Duncan said more needs to be done to get younger kids interested in bowling.
"Voorheesville is not involved with youth bowling leagues," the coach said. "In places like Lansingburgh, Cohoes, and Schalmont, it’s a sport the kids are involved with."

Duncan said it is hard to compete in a small school that is dominated by the popularity of basketball.
"Bowling is not an exciting sport," he said. "A lot of people are not involved with it any more. At Guilderland, there is still some interest and it’s a bigger school so they have more to draw from."

Though Voorheesville doesn’t have younger kids bowling, the varsity team gets support.
"Parents have always been supportive," Duncan said. "And Jack Scaccia at Town ’N’ Country has been great. He’s a big help to the kids, and we bowl there. That’s great for bowling, and that helps."