Savage gets Buffalo Grove off to fierce MSL start
Buffalo Grove high school bowling is well represented at Arlington Lanes.
Just take a look at the league leaderboard in the foyer of the Mid-Suburban League's home alley.
Current Bison coach Jean Tripam owns the top game of the year with a 299, while former BG standout Mariah McVay, who bowls along with Tripam, has the best 3-game series, a 725.
Seems like a lot for the current BG bowlers to live up to, but they certainly seem to be up to the challenge.
Led by senior Joanne Savage, the Bison scored a 9-0 victory over Rolling Meadows on opening night of the MSL season Monday.
Savage, who rolled a 300 game during MSL play last year, fired 5 consecutive strikes at the end of game 3 Monday to score a 247 and cap the BG win by a score of 2,654 pins to 2,409 for the Mustangs.
"I'm excited for this season to begin," said Savage, whose excellent play has helped her draw interest from major college programs such as Texas Southern in Houston.
"It's sad in a way that this is my senior year," said Savage, "but I see great things for our team this year. We've just got to stay positive."
Junior Jessica Soskich earned the top series of the night for BG, a 665 that included games of 253 and 213.
"I was counting down the days," said Soskich of her excitement on the approaching conference season. "We've got some strong players on our team. We've just got to make every shot count, and when one of us gets down, we've got to pick each other up."
Heather Schmidt led Meadows with a 587 series (240 game), while consistent play from junior Amanda Richae helped Hoffman Estates defeat Wheeling.
Richae, whose line on the evening was 216-170-225-611, was another of a multitude of competitors who were poised and ready for the season to begin.
"I love high school bowling," said the junior, "and I love the atmosphere of the alley. I started out the year last Saturday (at the Schaumburg invite) with not so great of a performance, so I'm happy I was able to get back on track tonight.
"We've got kind of a new team this year, so we've got to get used to working together and the key is we've got to support each other."
Conant scored a victory over Elk Grove on Monday as Angela Anzalone excelled with a 682 series, a 3-game mark that included a 257 game 2.
Emma Wrenn (224, 221) helped Hersey score a win over Barrington but the Broncos' Sarah Tenyer, last year's MSL individual champion, started the year in fine style with a 268-192-192-652.
Schaumburg defeated Fremd as Kylie Frick rolled a 560 series, while Prospect first year coach Ashley Ruszczak enjoyed a successful debut.
Arie Upshaw of the Knights rolled games of 226 and 205 to help Prospect outpoint Palatine 2,641 to 2,303 to hand Ruszczak her first-ever victory as a head coach.
"We've got a couple of girls with experience returning, like Arie and Cassidy (Selep)" said Ruszczak, "and we've also got a lot of girls who are up and coming. I'm excited to see what the season brings."