Bowling alleys across the North Shore have been busy in recent weeks with New Trier’s team consistently rolling against Vernon Hills, Libertyville, and Glenbrook North. Last Saturday, Dec. 1, New Trier was also invited to the Vernon Hills meet for a one-day tournament out of conference. Varsity captain Jack McWilliams described it as one of the longest weeks that the team has had all year.
The first game of the week was on Tuesday, Nov. 27 against Vernon Hills.
The final score was 3006-2864. Senior McWilliams rolled a total of 621 pins, junior Sam Shepard rolled 610 pins, junior James Olk rolled 658 pins, junior Alex Herrmann rolled 528 pins, and junior Andrew Textor rolled 589 pins.
Varsity Coach Scott Durkin was relieved with the win.
“It was an amazing victory beating Vernon Hills, which is one of the top teams in the state,” he said.
The hardest fought game last week was their match against Glenbrook North on Wednesday, Nov. 28. The result was 2932-2935.
Glenbrook North won by three pins, rolling a strike on their final shot, securing the victory.
McWilliams rolled a 572, Shepard a 672, s Olk a 535, Herrmann a 191 (he was absent for the first and second game), Textor a 620, and junior Daniel Mickevice a 342 (he was absent for the third game and the match against Vernon Hills).
Varsity bowler Textor, who has a season average of 210.25, commented on the team’s close loss.
“We will try to be more focused in the future,” said Textor. McWilliams described the game as a “nail biter”.
For Thursday’s game against Libertyville on Nov. 29, New Trier redeemed itself with a score of 2715-2051.
New Trier was able to keep its average up over 600, much to Textor’s satisfaction, for a 664 point difference win.
“I was talking to the whole team in the pre-match huddle; I could see they were all determined to prove that we were a better team than how we played against GBN. I was really proud of how all of the guys were able to put a defeat behind them so quickly and come back out the next day with fire in their hearts and a feeling of defending our home lanes,” said McWilliams.
The final and toughest part of the week was the Vernon Hills invite, which was a free-for-all at the bowling alley.
Teams came to the alley for the entire day for the tournament. The invite took its toll on New Trier’s bowling team.
“It went alright, we stayed 850-900. It was a long day and we had to adapt to the conditions at the alley,” said Textor. Textor described the alley as hot and the lanes’ oil patterns made it difficult to roll.
McWilliams acknowledged the effect it had on the team.
“At the invite, even though the team was still mentally there and ready to compete, we saw as the day progressed that we were physically fatigued.”
New Trier is currently in fourth place in the conference with a record of 3-2.
Commenting on what he has learned bowling at New Trier, McWilliams commented that, “I would have wanted more time to prepare for each of these matches a little longer but that is the way our season works. There are so many ‘what ifs’ in the sport of bowling that I could go through and get mad about,” said McWilliams.
“But one of the most important things I have learned over the years in bowling, is you can’t dwell on any particular roll, frame or even game; you have to move on, because there will be a match the next day that I have to prepare for.”