Seniors keep Elk Grove atop MSL
Elk Grove won last season’s Mid-Suburban League championship, but they also lost three stellar bowlers to graduation.
This year, the Grens are again using inspired senior leadership to stay atop the conference standings.
Ashley Dolce’s solid 597 series led the way for the Grenadiers on Monday night at AMF Lanes in Rolling Meadows. Teammate Tedra Tado, last year’s fifth-place individual state finisher, fired a 584 (225 high game) as Elk Grove defeated Barrington.
The win kept the Grens in first place in the MSL, 5 points ahead of surging Prospect.
“We lost some great bowlers from last year,” said Dolce, who came into Monday night’s action in second place in MSL individual average. “So right now it feels like we’re starting over — but we’re showing that we can still compete with the good teams in the league.”
“We started a little slow,” added Tado, “but as the year goes on more and more we’re starting to work together as a team.”
The Knights stayed on a roll, knocking down the most pins of the evening (2,958) in a 7-2 victory over Buffalo Grove. Alison Mulcahy stepped up for Prospect with a 244 game, while BG’s Mariah McVay and Shana Rarick stayed hot.
Rarick, a senior, had games of 236 and 222 en route to a meet-best 671 series. McVay stayed on top of the league individual standings by rolling games of 208 and 203.
McVay, also a senior, boasted a 203.73 average coming into play — the only MSL bowler over 200 this season — and said that her love of the game is driving her this year.
“My passion for bowling has risen so much,” said the senior, who fired a 300 game as a sophomore and last year helped lead the Bison to a state tournament berth. “Once I started to see (in years past) how well I could do, it just drove me to do even better.”
Rarick, who said the team “had a blast” at the state tourney in Rockford, says the team’s goal is get back to Cherry Bowl Lanes for the 2012 tournament.
“We’ve got to hit our marks, pick up our spares, and have fun,” added Rarick, who is in the MSL top 10 this year and has improved almost 40 pins from last season. “We sometimes get a little too serious.”
Rolling Meadows moved into third place in the MSL by edging Fremd 5-4 as Caitlyn Gastfield rolled a 225. Kelly Bierer had the Vikings top game, a 223.
Hoffman Estates won its match over Schaumbug as sophomore Sarah Wille fired a 234. The Saxons’ Cheyenne Pfeiffer’s 618 series included games of 224 and 211.
The Saxons’ Rachel Vincent, who ironically had to depart after only one game because of another school commitment, had the night’s top game with a 247.
Conant beat Palatine behind a 604 from Courtney Slavich, while the Pirates’ Missy Cannon (187 game), Wheeling’s Cailey Markiewicz (180) and Hersey’s Sam Tres (179) all enjoyed an excellent night’s work — as did Elk Grove’s Abby Nix.
Nix, a junior who bowled on JV last season, has been pitching in to the Grens’ cause this year with a 179.42 average, good for 12th in the league. She contributed a 215 on Monday.
“It’s been a big jump to varsity,” said Nix, “but luckily I’ve got the seniors — Ashley, Tedra and Dana (Ohm) — there to support me.
“They pick me up when I get down. Whenever I have a bad frame they tell me to just shake it off — there’s always the next frame.”
For her part, Dolce also notices the difference of bowling as a senior leader rather than a junior.
“It’s good and bad,” said Dolce. “It’s a lot of fun being a senior, but there’s also the added pressure of knowing that this is your last season and your last chance. We want to make it to state and leave on a good note.”