STATE BOWLING
Gulliver's Ana Koff captures state title
BY JUSTIN AZPIAZU
jazpiazu@MiamiHerald.com
It is no shock that a member of the Koff family won an individual state bowling title at the 2009 FHSAA finals in Orlando on Wednesday.
But it was Ana, not Andrew.
Gulliver Prep's Ana Koff, Andrew's little sister, won the girls' individual title, beating Belleview High's Kimberly Reynolds 2-0, in the best-of-3 final match.
``I'm really proud,'' Ana said. ``I didn't think I was going to win. I'm so happy I won.''
In the finals, Ana took an early lead in Game 1 and never relinquished the lead. In third frame Ana rolled a strike while Reynolds left one pin standing. By the end of the fourth frame Ana had an 80-69 lead.
In the eighth frame Koff rolled another strike but left one pin standing in the 10th frame. Reynolds could have won the game in the 10th frame if she had bowled three strikes in a row. In her first attempt Reynolds bowled a strike but left one pin standing her next roll. A look of relief washed over Ana's face when she realized her opponent had missed and she had won the first game of match play 198-193.
During the few minutes while both girls were getting ready for the second game Koff seemed calm, laughing with her parents and her brother.
In the second game, Ana was unstoppable rolling five strikes in the first six frames.
Reynolds tried to keep up but after the younger Koff rolled a strike in the eighth frame Reynolds was mathematically eliminated.
``Ana had the perfect ball roll, the perfect speed and the perfect style that matched the lane conditions in this tournament,'' Gulliver coach Mike Nyitray said. ``She seized the moment.''
Early in the tournament Nyitray liked how Ana had adapted to the lane conditions.
``From the very first match her ball roll was such a good fit that I was really impressed,'' Nyitray added.
Ana was not the only bowler from Miami-Dade County to have a good showing at the state tournament.
Southwest freshman Melissa Perez finished third in the individual competition. Wednesday morning Perez had a chance to advance to the final match against Ana but lost a close contest to Reynolds in the semifinals.
In the team competition the Palmetto girls finished third after losing to state runner-up Atlantic High school.
The Gulliver girls' team lost their first match Wednesday morning and was eliminated.
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