Sunbury’s return to Bowls Victoria division 1 pennant was a rude awakening as the side copped one of its biggest losses in years.
Having been one of the dominant teams in division 2 in the past few years, Sunbury faced a new challenge on Saturday – division 1, section 1.
Playing Glenroy, Sunbury went down 98 (11)-63 (1).
Mark Cowan’s rink won Sunbury’s only point of the day, finishing 17-17. Carla Krizanic’s rink lost 26-17, Elise Cowan’s rink lost 28-16 and Brad Janner’s rink lost 26-12.
Sunbury’s Dave Glennon said they clearly got beaten by a better side.
“It was a bit of a wake-up call being back in division 1,” he said.
“It’s the first time we’ve lost by that much in a long time. We’re under no illusions … it won’t be an easy season. Every match is going to be a hard one.”
Glennon said the club had managed to hold on to most of its player group from the previous season, with only one new player playing in the top side in round one.
Elisa Rigoni, who is travelling down from Shepparton each week, made her debut for Sunbury on Saturday.
Rigoni, a member of the Victorian under-25 team, is one of several talented young female players new to the club.
State under-18 duo Mikayla Long and Lisa Trewarne have also joined, with Glennon saying he expected to see both play in the top side as the season progresses.
Glennon said having Mark Cowan, who is coach of the Victorian under-18 teams, and Krizanic, who is one of the best players in the country, was a drawcard to attracting new players. Long and Trewarne played with Krizanic in the women’s winning fours team at the state championships.
It was a tough weekend for Sunbury overall, with only two of the six teams, the second team (division 3) and fourth team (division 5), recording wins.
But in some good news for the club, Krizanic last week won the 2016 National Champion of Champions women’s title.
Playing at Keilor, where she started her career, Krizanic won all five of her matches, with a 21-15 win against the Northern Territory’s Bronwyn Chandler sealing her second successive national champion of champions title.
