ALTON – Southwestern Conference rivals Alton and Edwardsville got together Wednesday afternoon for another edition of their league rivalry.
This time it was at Bowl Haven in Alton as the boys and girls bowling teams took each other on in a Southern Illinois High School Bowling League Southwestern division match, with the Redbirds coming away with the wins on the lanes. Alton's boys scored a 36-4 win over the Tigers, with the girls winning their clash 35-5 (points in SIHSBC matches are awarded based on both team and individual results, with a maximum of 40 available for each contest).
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“Both teams – girls and boys – did very well today,” said first-year Redbird head coach David Meyer. “They stayed composed; they're doing better at picking up their spares, but they did a good job. This week, they've turned it around and are beginning to jel as a team. It's still early; I hope the kids keep improving and building each day, and that's what I try to stress to them.
“The team is doing good and starting to improve; I'm proud of them. Both varsity teams are starting to show they can come together and jel as a team.”
“The scores may not show it,” said first-year Edwardsville coach Kimber Wilderman, “but we've been working on a lot of things and improved on quite a bit, so we weren't able to come away with very many wins, we are definitely improving as a team; by the end of the season, I think we are going to be very competitive with the other teams.
“We still work on things; there's always room for improvement, but I think I've seen that improvement on a day-to-day basis. I think they're doing an excellent job; they all have great attitudes and they respond well whenever I suggest new things to try.”
On the girls side, the Redbirds' Ashley Heistand led the way with a team-high 717 three-game series, rolling games of 221, 258 and 238; Alex Bergin followed with a 655 set (246, 208, 201) while Claire Gorman had a high game of 199 on the day; the Redbirds' total pinfall was 2,856.
For the Tigers, Sydney Sahuri had the high game of the day with a 197 to close out a 517 series, while Samantha Linck rolled a 188 and 168 for a 494 series and Rachel McTague games of 155 and 156 as part of a 457 set for the day. Edwardsville's total pinfall was 2,104.
On the boys' side, Alton's Trevor Vallow turned in the day's top game of 279 to go with games of 204 and 233 for a 716 series; Derek Henderson had a top game of 258 to go with games of 183 and 188 for a 629 series and Tyler Stevenson had the day's best series of 756 with games of 246, 246 and 264. Other top games came from C. Duke with a 239 and B. Schutte with a 217; the day's total pinfall for the Redbirds was 3,241.
The top Tiger score of the day came from Spencer Gray, who fired a 224 in the opening game for Edwardsville, with the high series from Hunter Noud at 610 (215, 205, 190). Kody Timmons turned in a 578 series (197, 196, 185) and Eddie Sims rolled games of 182, 176 and 177 for a 535 set; the Tigers' total pinfall was 2,759.
Next up for the Redbirds is a league clash with O'Fallon at 3:30 p.m. today at Bowl Haven, while the Tigers boys answer Taylorville's challenge in a 4 p.m. match today at Edison's Entertainment Center in Edwardsville. Both the Alton and Edwardsville boys and girls will be in Saturday's Southern Illinois Team Challenge tournament at Bel-Air Bowl in Belleville; play commences at 8 a.m.
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