Season in Review: Fort Lee Bowling

With all winter sports seasons having concluded, Fort Lee Patch now takes an in-depth look at how each team fared over the past few months.

With the second of five installments, the season in review segment continues with the story of the 2010-2011 Fort Lee bowling team.

Before the season started, head coach Dennis Sayer knew that there would be some open spots in his starting lineup due to gradation and other factors, but he also knew that two of those positions would be secured by his returning seniors.

Captains Yeliz Inalman and David Daniels were both back for another season on the Fort Lee bowling team this year and Sayer looked to these two for guidance throughout the year.

"[David] is taking all of the younger kids and trying to help them bowl," Sayer said early in the year. "We have a young team, so it's great to watch him bowl because the kids get a little more motivated."

Inalman also knew that a lot of pressure came with the tag of being a team captain.

“Being a leader is really important because the [other teammates] watch you while you bowl,” she said. “Without you realizing, they do the same things you do, so you have to help them out."

So Liz and David worked during the season to mentor the younger players as Fort Lee tried to reach their expectations.

Coach Sayer hoped for a second place finish with the girls and possibly fourth place  for the boys.  Both teams would eventually finish very close to these projections during an unusual season.

Fort Lee endured a blizzard that prevented them from bowling for almost a week. Then, upon returning to action, the team encountered a week and a half without competition including delays with even more snow and another team disbanding before a match.

“It was something I never would have expected to happen,” said senior bowler David Daniels of the unique events. “It was depressing and upsetting.”

There was another bizarre event that took place this year when junior Kei Kase was scheduled to take the SAT entrance exam on the same day as the county tournament. Kei eventually took the exam first then raced to bowl in the afternoon session of the tournament, where he helped the team out of last place.

“Right after the [exam], he rushed over, didn’t go home and get a snack or anything,” said David Daniels on Kei’s quick transition from school to sports. “He didn’t get any practice. We just subbed him in.”

The boys eventually finished in fourth, one spot above last year’s team that had four seniors. The Bridgemen took points away from Westwood late in the year and came from behind in a 3-2 win over River Dell when they set a new series high of 850.

The Lady Bridgemen ended the season in third place and were led in scoring by Yeliz Inalman.

Fellow senior David Daniels also bowled in the state sectional tournament, something that Fort Lee has not experienced in recent years.

“It was a great honor to qualify,” Daniels said. “I started off nice in the first game but strikes in the first five frames and then the pressure started to get to me.”

David finished with scores in the 190s but fell short of a possible state championship.

The Fort Lee bowling team will lose seniors Yeliz Inalman and David Daniels next season, but the remaining nucleus of the team is expected to be the same at the alleys for the 2011-2012 season.

POSTSEASON AWARDS:

David Daniels - 2nd team All-League

Kei Kase - 2nd team All-League

Ammad Quirashi - Honorable Mention