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Hollis Brookline’s Vahe bowls perfect ‘300’ game

By Hector Longo - Sports Writer | Dec 15, 2019

Hollis Brookline's Nic Vahe and his teammates celebrate the first 300 game ever bowled in HBHS history.

As one of the state’s top high school tennis players, Nic Vahe has slugged out against the best with state championships on the line, intense, competitive situations. He knows all about the word “pressure.”

And than Saturday morning rolled around.

The Hollis Brookline High School senior saw the definition of pressure explode right in his face during this week’s Cavalier bowling match with Bishop Guertin and Coe-Brown Academy. And the kid literally handled it like a pro.

Vahe, the No. 2 bowler on the HB team, made school history at Merrimack Ten Pin, firing a perfect “300” game, the first-ever by a Hollis Brookline student-athlete in competition.

“It was incredible, something I never could have expected,” said Vahe, who eclipsed the school record of 279, set by his current digital electronics teacher and Cavalier alum, Devin Fauteux.

When he rolled the 12th strike, the moment was frozen in history but not in Vahe’s mind.

“People talk about how getting that 12th strike is the toughest because of all the pressure,” he said. “I could barely make it to the approach, to be honest. And then I made it and the rest was a blur. People picked me up. My mom came running out to the lane and was crying. I’m hugging her and I didn’t even know it was her. Then, I did, and I started crying with her, too.”

Fortunately for Vahe, this is 2019, and there are videos galore to remind him of the event.

Saturday morning at the lanes started pretty normally for Vahe and the Cavs. The agenda was simple. Hang out with some friends, compete against the Cardinals and Bears, maybe have a slice of pizza or some fries.

“When I got to the alley, I thought to myself that the oil pattern fit the lanes really well.

Carrying a 200 average, the lefty is a solid player. He threw all four strikes in warmups and went out to roll a 212 in his first game.

“I was just looking to roll a decent second game, to help keep the average up over 200,” he said. “And I started making strike after strike. It just wouldn’t stop.”

As the strikes piled up, so did the heat.

“The eighth frame is when I really started to think about it,” Vahe said. “It was very hard. I was not calm at all. My coach (Erin Robbins) just reminded me to breath. The only people talking to me at that point were my teammates. My friend, Zach Sommer, just told me, ‘Hey, it’s bowling. Just go do your thing.'”

Wham. Pocket hits on the ninth and 10th balls were flush. The pins flew.

But on the 11th?

“What a bad shot. I totally blew it, but it crossed over,” Vahe said. “It was silent, and one of my teammates yelled out, ‘Brooklyn!'”

Again, all 10 pins scattered. Fortunately.

It set up the wild, tension-packed 10th and Vahe would not be denied.

“It was truly an amazing day,” said Robbins.

Vahe wasn’t the only Cavalier on fire. Between varsity and JV, the Cavs had 10 games over 200. Sommer (233), Jake Webb (208, 243), Vahe (212, 300), Ben LaFontaine (209, 222), Jarrett Tousignant (203) and Cayden Plummer (200, 212) had them. The total pinfall for varsity a gawdy 2,072.

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