Maxwell Holiday Invite on tap Saturday
Area girls bowling teams are beginning to show striking improvements as the 2007-08 season progresses.
The timing could not be better as Bartlett, St. Edward, South Elgin, Elgin, Larkin, Jacobs, Dundee-Crown and tournament host Streamwood are each slated to compete in the 2007 Ray Maxwell Sabre Holiday Invitational Saturday at 9 a.m. at Streamwood Lanes. They will be among some 30 teams in the tournament.
Joining area competitors will be Conant, Schaumburg, Buffalo Grove, Bolingbrook DeKalb, Downers Grove North, Elk Grove, Fremd, Grant, Hersey, Hinsdale Central, Lake Zurich, Leyden, Libertyville, Morgan Park, Morton, Neuqua Valley, Rolling Meadows, Wheeling, Romeoville, Willowbrook, York and a second Conant team.
Behind an always changing lineup, Jacobs will be prepared.
"Things are going very well for us so far," said longtime Golden Eagles coach Lois Emrich.
"There is no set lineup with our team, but the girls know that. Our daily lineup is based on how our girls are bowling."
Anchored by veterans Brittany Lasek, Julie Escarano, Amanda Burau and Ashley Koutnik, all-around averages are on the rise.
The team has been getting excellent leadership from captains, Escarano, Koutnik and Lasak as well as consistency, which according to Emrich, you have to have to be successful.
"This is a great tournament," Emrich said. "They pull excellent teams from all over the area to compete here.
"All of our tournaments are enjoyable, but this one will be extremely fun. We expect to see very strong competition.
A very welcome addition to the Golden Eagle roster has been freshman Jenny Rood, who now finds herself competing at the varsity level.
"Jenny came in very quiet, but also very talented," said Emrich. "We put her in a JV tournament, and the girls corrupted her. Now she is having a blast.
"The jump to varsity hasn't phased her a bit."
Rood recently tallied the high series against Fox Valley opponent Grayslake Central. She is averaging in the mid to high 140s but can and has done much better than that.
"I am seeing improvements across the board," said Emrich. "Everybody is learning and everybody is excited about what they are doing. Averages are on the rise."
St. Edward is a similar story both with rising averages and young talent making an early impact.
The Green Wave recently promoted Kate Norman to the varsity level. Norman opened the season with the JV roster, but with a 118 average that continues to climb, she has earned a spot on the varsity squad.
"Kate has been doing an outstanding job and is quickly becoming one of our leaders," said St. Edward coach Natalie Smith.
"All of my girls are improving, and it shows with averages going up across the board."
A returning entry at the Ray Maxwell Sabre Holiday Invitational, St. Edward will look to see progress through a lift in the overall rankings.
"I'm hoping individually for our girls to remain consistent in their games," said Smith. "More than anything, I would like to see them relax and bowl like they do in practice.
"When they are relaxed, they bowl to their full potential."
Despite youth and a lack of experience, South Elgin continues to make strides in the right direction.
Now in its third season with a program, the Storm returned Amanda Friese, Danielle Davila and Chimere Schmitz.
Friese's average leads the team as she is bowling in the 160's.
"Amanda has shown a lot of improvements from last year to this year," said third-year coach Bonnie Kott. "Danielle has been our most consistent bowler, and Chimere is also doing a remarkable job."
According to Kott, the girls get excited when they see high scores, which shouldn't be sparse at the Streamwood Invitational. Kott herself, will also see sister Connie Kott, who heads the Streamwood varsity team this year, and will host the Ray Maxwell Sabre Holiday Invitational.
"Our girls really do like tournaments so this will be great," said Kott. "There will be a lot of really, really strong teams in attendance.
"We are hoping to finish near the middle of the pack."