Down the lane glided the heavy, freshly polished, three-holed bowling ball, charging at the lustrous pins. As Addison Ferarra (’25) scored the last strike, the THS bowling team erupted with great applause. 

The THS Bowling Girls’ Varsity team ended last season with a comparatively unsatisfactory record of 3-12. Heading into the 2024-2025 season with a couple of new faces on their roster such as Hannah Lee (’28) and Erika Shindo (’27), both of whom have brought important value to this year’s new and improved Tenafly team, the Tigers were hopeful—and rightly so. Since the start of the season, the girls have already secured seven wins, reaching record-breaking stats. 

Winning streaks have sometimes been overlooked in sports, yet they are the building blocks to a championship team. The Tigers have now won their last three matches with an accumulated score of 19 wins and 2 losses against teams like Old Tappan, Bergenfield, and Pascack Valley. The record skyrocketed from last year as the team “actually [has] people that care this year versus in previous years [when] we’ve had people who just do it for the varsity letter,” Ferrara said. “But this year we have a lot of people who realize that this is a sport that a lot of people care about and that they can actually put effort into it and become really good with practicing a few times before this season starts.” One of those people is Abigail Jee (’27), who, according to Ferrara, contributed immensely to the team, strongly dedicating herself to the sport. 

Furthermore, going into his second year of coaching the Tenafly Girls Bowling team, Mr. Devereaux has been able to establish girls bowling as one of the most improved sports in Tenafly. “I learned a lot more about bowling that year,” Devereaux said. “I went to some coaching clinics and really learned the game better, so I was able to teach my team in a more advanced way.”

The girls have two matches left—against Teaneck and powerhouse Northern Valley Demarest— in their miraculous season before heading into their state tournament. “We are looking at a potential eight or nine seed,” Devereaux added. “[This] would be a really competitive game for us. It would be against a team that we could definitely beat. We as a team would just have to bowl well, and I expect us to do so. The girls respond well to pressure in a lot of situations, so I think we could definitely sneak a first-round win.” 

Will the girls be able to overcome adversity and pull off a first round win after years of lower-level success? We will have to wait and see.