Third time was a charm.

A quirk in the season schedule pitted Sequim bowlers against Olympic for three consecutive matches. And while the second place Trojans came away with wins in both matches before the winter break — 5-2 on Dec. 12 and a 7-0 sweep in Dec. 17 — the Wolves rebounded with a 4-3 win on Jan. 7.

It was the first win this season for the Wolves at Port Angeles’ Laurel Lanes, their home venue.

“Hopefully this is the start to them stepping it up,” Sequim coach Randy Perry said.

Led by Madison McKeown’s 178-pin effort, Sequim started the match strong with a 656-627 win in game one, the Wolves’highest single game so far this season. The Wolves got triple digits from all five varsity bowlers, including Trinity Henderson (132), Gabby Mattern-Hall (122), Anastasia Updike (121) and Corrine Klinger (103).

Sequim struggled in game two however, dropping the game 651-531 despite another strong game from Updike (124 pins).

“(I) had to lay into them after the second game … (and) told them the only way we would win is to get both Bakers,” Perry said.

Respond they did. The Wolves racked up wins in both Baker-format games (145-121 and 156-122, Sequim’s two highest Baker games of the season), which was enough to overcome the disparity in overall pin total for the one-point victory.

That momentum ran out a bit in a 7-0 loss to Bremerton on Jan. 9. The Knights dominated Sequim (2-9) in both regular games (601-552, 605-490) before edging Sequim in Baker games (124-117, 98-87).

McKeown led Sequim bowlers with a 237-pin series (131-106) while Updike had a 128-pin first game.

Looking ahead

The Wolves cap the regular season Jan. 16 with a home match against North Mason.

Olympic plays host to the Olympic League bowling tourney set for Thursday, Jan. 23. Qualifying teams and individuals advance to the West Central District tourney set for Feb. 1 in Tacoma. The state 1A/2A tourney is scheduled for Feb. 7-8, also in Tacoma.