Another challenge awaited Bergen Tech at the Brick Bowling Tournament on Saturday in Lakewood.
For the third time this season, Bergen Tech answered the call against the best the N.J. girls bowling community has to offer.
The Knights took home their third tournament team title by outlasting Brick Memorial in the final game, proving again that they are the team to beat right now in the N.J. girls bowling landscape.
“I think we’ve all gotten better and it’s showing on the lanes,” Bergen Tech junior bowler Kaitlyn Zens said. “It feels really good to win these [tournaments].”
The 39th edition of the Brick Bowling Tournament featured a 12-team field that included nine teams in the NJ.com Top 20 girls bowling rankings.
No. 3 Brick Memorial rose from that loaded field to compete for the top spot with the No. 1 ranked Knights.
The Mustangs stayed right on the heels of Bergen Tech through all three traditional games, leading to the championship being decided in the 10th and final frame.
Senior Kayla McManus, sophomore Hannah Kim and Zens each tallied clutch performances during the final frame to lead the Knights to a 2,731-2,701 edge over the Mustangs.
Kim and McManus both recorded a spare and a strike in their last rolls, setting up Zens to clinch victory for Bergen Tech with a spare in her frame.
“Every pin mattered in a tournament like this,” Bergen Tech head coach Hank Kuipers said. “The fifth scorer was just as important as the top scorer.”
McManus tallied a three-game set of 594 to help the Knights prevail in the tournament.
Zens led all competitors at the tournament with a high game of 253 and a high series of 630.
The junior currently leads the state with her 219 average on the lanes in dual matches this season.
She’s also the only girl bowler in the state with two three-game series over 700.
“This year, I’ve really taken my game to the next level,” Zens said. “I’m very happy with my performance and how consistent I’ve been.”
Bergen Tech scored its first impressive feat of the season by taking down No. 2 Holy Angels at last month’s Charles A. Simon Baker Challenge.
Kuipers believed that victory helped usher in more confidence to his team, who became an even more confident bunch on the lanes with its win over Brick Memorial on Saturday.
“We’re in a good place right now,” Kuipers said. “We’re a confident bunch. It was big for us to win a tournament like this by fighting back to win it in the third game.”
Toms River South sophomore Christina Scibetta recorded a three-game series of 617 to help Toms River South place third in the team standings.
Freshman Bryonna Camp had a 614 three-game set to lead the second-place Mustangs.
Team Scores
1-Bergen Tech (2,731); 2-Brick Memorial (2,701); 3-Toms River South (2,670); 4-Manchester Township (2,611); 5-Holy Angels (2,507); 6-Burlington Township (2,488); 7-Barnegat (2,466); 8-Brick Township (2,464); 9-Central Regional (2,379); 10-Southern (2,094); 11-Howell (2,044); 12-St. Thomas Aquinas (1,730).
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