Bowling Team Rolls to Ninth Straight Win

Just chalk up another victory for the Scotch Plains-Fanwood bowling team.

This time, the blue-and-white defeated Rahway by 854 pins to claim a 7-0 win, making them 9-0 on the season.

"I was happy with the effort today," said coach James Mason. "They were consistent and had a nice, workman-like match."

The always-steady Mike Tufaro had a series-high 689 to lead the Raiders, topped off by a 259 in the middle game. He hit his average of 220 in the first game, and finished with a 210.

"We bowled well, even though our lead-off senior, Peter Citera, wasn't here, who's averaging 190," Tufaro said. "I knew I had to shoot well. I'm trying to maintain my average of 220."

Just a year ago, Tufaro, who earlier this season rolled a perfect 300, was averaging 185. He has moved his average up 35 pins since then. What's been the secret?

"We switched houses (bowling facilities)," Tufaro said. "Jersey Lanes is a lot nicer than where we were before, and I did a lot of practicing in the off-season, practicing my spares, got more consistent."

"I think the biggest difference in his game is that he's got a lot more confidence this year," continued Mason. "He's got a year of maturity, a year of experience under his belt and he's been real consistent and that's the key."

Katerina Nier helped lead the charge with a 201 out of the gate, a 172 and a 173 for a total of 546 pins.

"I expected us to be high because I knew we had a good team,"  Nier said. "I hope that we do well in the counties, we should, because we're bowling well here. We're having fun. We all try and stick together and be a team and focus on getting a lot of pins down."

Greg Budis had a 537 series, capped by a 192 in the final game. And Nick Stawicki had a big series, topping the 600-pin mark, which included games of 215 and a 212.

Junior Varsity bowler Mike Mannino stepped in nicely for Citera, rolling a 181 in his first game.

Citera is expected to be back for Wednesday's match against Union, a team which sits right behind third-place SP-F in the Union County Conference standings. The Raiders hope to keep the Farmers at bay. 

"It means a lot," Tufaro said. "I'm pretty pumped to bowl against Union. The three bowlers they have are real good, but we've got more, we're better than them. We'll see." 

Roselle Catholic and Linden are No. 1 and 2 respectively in the standings. 

While the Raiders are unbeaten and lost only two games the entire season, the Roselle Catholic Lions have not lost a game, giving them the edge.

"The thing that's the most frustrating is that we don't even get to bowl Roselle Catholic, they're bumped off our schedule," Tufaro said. "We don't even get a chance to beat them. When we bowl Linden, that will be a good match. "We're definitely shooting high for the counties. We're shooting for Roselle Catholic. We're gonna try to beat them, that's our goal."

The county tournament is slated for February 1, 3 and 4.