The Tenth Board

Alex Aguiar qualified 8th and Jon Van Hees 13th this week in the inaugural WTBA International Open, the first event created by the WTBA specifically for the World Bowling Tour, now in its second year. Under the rules of the tournament, this gave Van Hees a one-round bye and Aguiar a two-round bye in the finals, with Van Hees averaging just over 220 for 6 games to make the cut to Round 3. Aguiar averaged just under 221 for 6 games in Round 3 to finish 38 pins behind Walter Ray Williams Jr. for the third and final spot in the stepladder, while Van Hees averaged just over 208 for his final round. The stepladder is rounded out by top-seeded Liz Johnson and second seed Chris Barnes, who had a 300 game in the final game of Round 3 to move into position.

The stepladder will be contested on March 25 at the Brunswick Euro Challenge outside of Paris, France.

After surviving a match with Steven McCracken 595-541, Jon Van Hees was eliminated by Bryon Smith 703-602 (match play brackets were linked in a previous post) and, according to the tournament standings on PBA.com, finished in 8th place. Congrats to Jon on an impressive run in this major tournament.

I’ll comment with the winner after the televised finals on ESPN.

(The match play brackets are linked in a previous post)

Jon Van Hees defeated Tom Baker 676-664 in his first match this morning, but then lost to Chris Warren 720-631 to move into the losers bracket. Jon awaits the winner of the match between Jack Jurek and Steven McCracken at press time.

According to the most recent published match play bracket, Jon Van Hees is through to Friday’s third winners bracket round in double-elimination match play after defeating Bryan Kretzer 669-660 (three-game, total pinfall matches) and Tom Daugherty 641-434. Alex Aguiar was eliminated in the first losers bracket round after losses to Nathan Bohr (672-657) and Robert Gotchall (670-628).

The PBA reported that New England bowlers Alex Aguiar (Dartmouth, MA, 11th) and Jon Van Hees (Charlestown, RI, T20th) have both qualified in the top 20 at the USBC Masters, taking place at the Sunset Station Strike Zone in Las Vegas. Match play gets underway later today, and I will continue to track their progress.

Congrats to Alex Aguiar on yet another NEBA title, this time the Cambridge Credit Counseling Invitational last weekend at the Norwich Bowling & Entertainment Center in Norwich, CT. The title is Alex’s 11th.

The Tri-City Women’s Bowling Association will conduct their annual mixed doubles tournament, open to members of the Brockton, Tri-City, and Foxvale associations, at Westgate Lanes on Feb. 25 & 26, with entries closing on Feb. 13. Entry forms are now available at the control desk.

NEBA reported that Jon Van Hees won his 5th NEBA title at Westgate Lanes this past weekend, defeating Matt Brockett in the championship match by a score of 245-200. As noted in the posted results, the Westgate Lanes league bowlers who cashed are as follows: Tony Bennett (who was in the semifinals), Ryan Evans, Danny Khuu, Stephen Dale Jr., Rich LeCain, Ed Roberts, Steve Travers, Alex Aguiar, Rai Doblmeier, and Ryan Yelle.

Congrats to Jon, Matt, and all of the Westgate Lanes cashers.

The Northeast Amateur Tournament’s site reported that Wing Pau, whom I was able to determine is a bowler in the Coke Classic League, was the champion in their event held last Sunday at Westgate Lanes. Wing Pau defeated Paul Loberman, a bowler in the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league, in the title match by a score (with handicaps) of 241-237. Also, for the Westgate Lanes bowlers that I know, Steve Travers and Azriel Nguyen were also in the top 8.

The NAT also reported a record 152 entries for this event, so we think they’ll be back.

NEBA reported that Alex Aguiar claimed his tenth NEBA title Sunday in the Ebonite Tournament of Champions at AMF Lang’s Lanes in Cranston, RI. Alex, in convincing fashion, threw games of 277 and 267 to defeat Jon Van Hees in the two-game, total pinfall championship match by a score of 544-357. The posted standings and match play results also noted that Ed Roberts cashed in the tournament.

On Saturday, NEBA held a non-champions event, and, according to those results, Sean Richard, Dave Chalifoux, and Danny Khuu were the cashers who bowl in a league at Westgate Lanes. The event was won by Jim Bosse, who defeated Fero Williams, who was competing in his first NEBA tournament, 243-214 in the title match.

The Brockton Bowling Association has set the 50th annual championship tournament for March 17 & 18 and 24 & 25 at Westgate Lanes. As usual, four-man team, doubles, and singles events will be contested, with an optional all-events competition. More details, including an entry form, are available on the association’s website. Entries close on Feb. 27.

Note: The association has added $1 to the entry fee for each bowler in each event for expenses, but this is not reflected on the entry blank, where the total entry fees remitted need to be noted. I have alerted them of this oversight, and the entry blank will hopefully be corrected.

The PBA has reported that Alex Aguiar of the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league teamed with PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III (from Jackson, NJ) to win the West Region Member/Non-Member Doubles event at the World Series of Bowling at the South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas. Aguiar shot 204 and Bohn a 224 in the title match to defeat Brian Krezter of Dayton, OH and Jeff Fehr of Cincinnati by a score of 428-415. The duo upset top-seeded Mika Koivuniemi of Hartland, MI and Hyun Bum Kim of South Korea in the semifinal round by a 420-412 score to advance.

Congrats Alex!

NEBA reported that Alex Aguiar of the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league was a semifinalist in the event held on November 5 & 6 at Laurel Lanes in Plainville, CT. The preliminary results also had Danny Khuu, Richie Fulton, Tony Bennett, and Keith Tantillo cashing as Westgate Lanes league bowlers. The event was won by Rich Reynolds, who defeated Chris Carlson in the title match by a 249-246 score.

Congrats to all of the Westgate Lanes cashers.

The October 2011 People’s Tournament scheduled for Westgate Lanes last Sunday was canceled for weather reasons. The November tournament previously scheduled for E. Providence Lanes has also been canceled, so the next People’s Tournament will be at Westgate Lanes on December 10 & 11.