By Jack Rollings
Monbulk bowler, Karen Rice, bowled her way to the quarter finals of the women’s singles in the Victorian Open this week.
The Vic Open competition was held in Gippsland, centred around the big Traralgon bowling complex, but also using about fifteen local clubs, ensuring there was a challenging variety of bowling surfaces ranging from very fast synthetic carpet to slow and sometimes unpredictable grass.
The nearly two hundred entries in the women’s singles event came from all over Australia but also a large overseas contingent came from New Zealand, US, Hong Kong, Singapore. It was a true international spectacle and the wide range of colourful bowls shirts and bowls added to the exciting calls and instructions in accents and foreign languages from players and supporters.
Karen started her singles campaign in the sectional format at Sale, where she defeated Shuet Han Lung from Hong Kong and Lynne Wood from Narre Warren. The next day Karen’s competition moved to Traralgon where she had her first knockout game, while the early dew was still heavy on the grass green, against Olivia Andrews from Mooroopna, winning 21 to 15.
Then Karen had to move to the super-fast indoor carpet where she played a Singapore bowler, Siok Chin. Karen played with confidence on the fast green as it was fairly similar to her home ground back at Monbulk.
She won 21 to 6 which put her into the round of 16 against bowling powerhouse, Cass Millerick. Cass has won many titles including the Australian Open singles.
She has also been selected for national squads. She is a formidable opponent, as well as a genuinely nice person and playing for the strong Steamers at the Moama bowling club. Karen approached this game as she did any other, focusing on the process of delivering the bowl and trying not to let her opponent’s credentials get into her head.
The game was played on the outside carpet – once again it was fast, like at Monbulk, but also, like at Moama. And Karen nailed the shots. She carefully positioned her bowls, not just close to the jack, but also she made sure she had some defensive cover for when Cass unloaded a weighted drive. The scoreline was in favour of Karen and the crowd was expecting Cass to come back strongly.
But instead, it was Karen who went about her business, picking up a few good multiples and reaching the target of 21, leaving Cass back on 11 shots. It was a memorable win against a top opponent, and it put Karen into the quarterfinals.
To be in the final 8 of the state competition is a huge achievement. The game, the fourth game in a long and full day, was held inside on the Traralgon carpet, and Karen was facing an in-form legend of bowling, Samantha Atkinson.
Sammy plays for Dandenong Club, but she has won numerous state and national titles and a recent world title, which put her into 6th place in the world rankings. Karen started the game trying to block out the distractions.
Her bowls weren’t badly positioned, but any small gap was enough for Sammy to edge her way through and take the shot or promote her own bowl to take the shot. Karen’s supporters were urging her on, but it was not enough to overcome the brilliance of Sammy Atkinson who reached 21 shots while Karen was still on 6.
Karen may have lost the quarterfinal match, but she didn’t lose any supporters. Her strong campaign was recognised in numerous messages from fellow Monbulk bowlers, regional players and even from the wider bowling community.
She has made the Monbulk Bowling Club proud of her achievements, looking forward to the next contests.
