Megan Smith

After going through her career without a single state title, in the JPNEWT’s 2010 season, Megan Smith has now won back to back State Championships in Maryland and now in New York. On June 19-20, 2010, Megan went undefeated through a field of 23 players hailing from across the East Coast, making this her third win out the four stops so far in 2010.

On the first day of the event, Megan drew a first-round bye, and in the second round came out of the gate firing on all cylinders, with a break and run in the first rack vs Gail Glazebrook, followed by two more in that match, winning 7-3. In the third round, Megan defeated Neslihan Gurel to move into Day 2. Gurel, who is in her 2nd season on the JPNEWT, would go on to finish tied for 5th in this event.

To start off Day 2, four players remained in the winner’s bracket. In this round, Megan Smith would defeat tour director Linda Haywood-Shea 7-4, while Kim Jones knocked junior phenom Briana Miller to the one-loss side by a 7-5 scoreline. In the match for the hot seat, Megan Smith stayed strong to defeat Kim Jones 7-4.

On the one-loss side, New York’s Emily Duddy came through to the quarterfinal to face Briana Miller, who eliminated Emily in a close 7-5 set. This bumped Briana up to to the semifinal, where her run at the title was ended by Kim Jones, also 7-4.

Kim Jones then had another shot at Megan Smith in the final match, but Megan kept right in the groove that sent her undefeated through this event, to win 7-4. “I was really pumped up for the finals, and I knew I was ready to win.” said Megan.

Congratulations to Megan Smith on another great performance, as well as to runner-up Kim Jones, who received an entry into the 2010 WPBA US Open, which will be held on July 28-August 1 at the Riverwind Casino in Norman, OK.

results

$750    Megan Smith

500      Kim Jones

350      Briana Miller

240      Emily Duddy

150      Neslihan Gurel / Linda Shea

100      Borana Andoni / Shanna Lewis

9-12th        Gina Lipky, My Hanh Lac, Erin McManus, Gail Glazebrook

The next stop on the JPNEWT will be the New Jersey State 9-ball Championships on July 17-18 at Primetime Billiards in South Amboy, NJ.

– by Allison Fischer of NYCGrind.com