Monday, February 22, 2010

Voss/Asbaty Win PBA Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles

Coming from the No. 5 qualifying position, Hall of Famers Brian Voss of Alpharetta, GA, and Diandra Asbaty of Chicago, won the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Bayer Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Sunday at Brunswick Zone Wheat Ridge.
Voss, a member of the PBA Hall of Fame, and Asbaty,
a member of the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame, defeated No. 1 qualifiers
Jason Belmonte of Australia and Michelle Feldman of Auburn, NY, in the Baker
format championship match 234-212.

For Voss it was his 25th career Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour title ranking him
10th on the all-time list and his first in four years. It was the second PBA
Women’s Series presented by BOWL.COM title for Asbaty.

“Diandra bowled so well it took a lot of pressure off of me,” said the 51-year-old
Voss. “Once we got to match play our strategy was that she would start and I
would finish and we stuck with that the whole tournament.

“This was special not just for myself but also because you have an opportunity to
share it with someone.”

The Baker format requires each member of the team to bowl alternate frames in a
game to combine for one score.

“Believe me, I couldn’t have done it without Brian,” Asbaty said. “We had good
chemistry right from the start. Even though we qualified fifth for the finals,
we had a lot of confidence and the fact that we jumped out to big leads in the
first two matches helped make us feel we were in control.”

The Voss and Asbaty team had a scare in the championship match when Voss
missed a 10 pin spare in the eighth frame.

“I hadn’t thrown any shots on the right hand part of the lane all day and just
threw a bad shot,” Voss said. “Fortunately it didn’t cost us.”

Voss and Asbaty shared in a $50,000 first prize and Belmonte and Feldman split
$26,000 for second.

“I thought after bowling really well at the start it would eventually end for
them but it didn’t,” said Belmonte. “That’s the cruel part of bowling one game
for the title, but if it’s your day it can be the beauty of it as well.”

Voss and Asbaty began the finals by defeating 2009 PBA World Championship
winner Tom Smallwood and Jodi Woessner 276-224. In the second match they
defeated Rhino Page and Shannon Pluhowsky 276-227, and in the semi-final beat
reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott and Shannon O’Keefe 224-202 to get
to the championship match.

LUMBER LIQUIDATORS PBA TOUR
BAYER DON AND PAULA CARTER MIXED DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP
Brunswick Zone Wheat Ridge, Wheat Ridge, CO, Feb. 21

Final Standings
1, Brian Voss, Alpharetta, Ga./Diandra Asbaty, Chicago, $50,000.
2, Jason Belmonte, Australia/Michelle Feldman, Auburn, N.Y., $26,000.
3, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas/Shannon O’Keefe, Arlington, Texas, $16,000.
4, Rhino Page, Dade City, Fla./Shannon Pluhowsky, Kettering, Ohio, $12,000.
5, Tom Smallwood, Flushing, Mich./Jodi Woessner, Oregon, Ohio, $10,000.

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