At the Hoosier Classic, the final tournament before sectionals, the KU men’s bowling team didn’t finish as well as it had in past tournaments.

The men’s team, which had won four tournaments this year, struggled over the weekend and finished fourth at the Hoosier Classic in Indianapolis.

After the first day of bowling, the men were in 16th place and needed to jump into the top eight to compete in the baker match games.

Kansas was able to move into seventh after the three team games yesterday and faced off against Missouri Baptist in the first match game. In a best of five match-up, Kansas was able to beat Missouri Baptist three games to two, and advanced to play West Texas A&M.;

The Jayhawks lost three games to two and finished fourth.

Coach Mike Fine attributed the finish to some bowlers being under the weather.

The team’s top bowler, junior Rhino Page, finished with a 203 average, good enough for 15th overall.

Sophomore Zach Taylor had the second best average on the team with a 194 and said the team made a turn around on the second day of play.

Despite the finish, Fine is very optimistic about sectionals and nationals.

“We should be fine,” Fine said. “We showed our youthful resilience, and I’m happy with the effort.”

The women’s bowling team ended a streak of its own at the Hoosier Classic. A 12th-place finish ended the team’s run of top 10 finishes. The low finish also made them miss out on the match games.

Senior Kelly Zapf led the women’s team with a 179 average, followed by freshman Natalie Bennett with a 178.

Zapf said poor accuracy and spare shooting were factors in the 12th-place finish and cost them the opportunity to compete, and were things the team needed to work on.

“We have a month until sectionals, then another month until nationals so I’m going to be working hard with those being my last two tournaments,” Zapf said.

“And I’m going to make sure the girls work as hard as I do, so we can end the season on a good note.”

The bowling teams will play next on March 19 and 20 at the Intercollegiate Bowling Championship Sectional Qualifiers.