Smashing effort from Rolling Meadows' Sassan
Rolling Meadows bowler Jenna Sassan didn't just beat her personal best Wednesday night at the Mid-Suburban League meet.
She demolished it.
Sassan fired a 280 in her second game of a 3-game series at Arlington Lanes to shatter her former top mark by a whopping 56 pins.
The sophomore, after throwing a strike in the first frame and a spare in the second, strung together 10 consecutive strikes to close out the game.
Sassan, who said that she "couldn't believe I was actually doing this," as the game progressed, chalked up her success to the support she received from her teammates and fans.
The 280 is the best game in the MSL this season.
"Everyone was cheering me on," said Sassan. "Not only my team, but also the JV team and the people behind me. It got louder and louder as the game went on and that meant a lot to me.
"I kept a positive attitude the whole way."
Sassan said she kept the pressure on entering the 10th frame even though she knew she had already beaten her best ever score.
"I just knew," said Sassan, "that I had to get those last three strikes."
Sassan's gem, along with a 243 from teammate Robyn Konrad, couldn't stop the Mustangs from falling to Hersey 7-2.
The Huskies outscored Meadows 2,648 to 2,570 led by Emma Wrenn, who rolled a 224 game and 623 series.
Wrenn came into play Wednesday leading the conference with a 204.8 average.
Wheeling junior Savannah Garcia, who excelled with a 233 game Wednesday, dedicated her great night to her grandfather, Donald Deron. Garcia said it has been Deron who has kept encouraging her to be the best bowler she can be.
"He's the one who inspired me, ever since we started bowling in a league together," Garcia said. "He's retired now, but he still bowls in a Tuesday morning league, and even though it's difficult for him he tries to come out to watch me whenever he can."
Garcia added that her team is looking to build on the success of last season, when the Wildcats enjoyed some postseason success.
"It was a lot of fun last year," said the junior," and it's even more fun this year. We've got more focus on doing well, and we're trying not to dwell on anything bad or get mad if we make a bad shot or have a poor game."
The Wildcats posted a win over Prospect as Karsyn Burgess and Elizabeth Stavros both fired 201 games.
Becca Rutkowski's 222 game 2 led Fremd to a win over Elk Grove, but the Grenadiers grabbed a couple of points behind a 192 game 3 by Abby Casey.
Hoffman Estates shot the second-best team series of the year, a 1029, in a win over Palatine. Jordyn Fera of the Hawks led the way with a 247.
Schaumburg, meanwhile, kept a firm hold on first place in the MSL with a 9-0 win over Conant.
Anchor bowler Elise London had games of 202 and 207 to help the Saxons improve to 52-2 in the conference season.
"Chemistry," said London when asked the reason for Schaumburg's stellar beginning to the season. "Everyone is there for each other. We interact so well together, and we don't let anyone get down. If any of us misses a spare, or doesn't strike, we don't let it get inside our heads because we know our teammates are there to pick us up."
London had lots of help in the win over the Cougars as freshman Kylie Frick finished with games of 224 and 218 enroute to a 621 series, and Sarah Schwind rolled games of 202 and 200.
The Saxons came into play with 5 bowlers (London, Frick, Schwind, Sunny Bobnick and Gina Lenoci) in the top 20 in conference individual average.
"Bowling is the ultimate team sport," said London. "You can't come out here just expecting to play as an individual. You've got to play as a team."