Aryana Lynch
In the second of six scheduled stops on the DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour (an adjunct of the Open DFW 9-Ball Tour), 18-year-old Aryana Lynch, the Billiards Education Foundation’s Junior Champion (16 and Under Girls) in 2018 and the BCAPL Women’s 8-Ball Singles Champion in 2019, proved herself, once again, to be a formidable adversary. For the second time in a row, she went undefeated to claim a DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour event title. She improved her game winning average since she went 36-9 (80%) in games the first time out in February, going 30-6 (83%) this past weekend. The $500-added event drew 27 entrants to Snookered Billiards in Frisco, TX on Saturday, April 3.
Lynch was awarded an opening round bye in the 27-entrant bracket and didn’t have an opponent chalk up a rack against her until the third winners’ side round. She opened her second round with a shutout over Riza Pili and followed it with a 6-1 victory over Sheila Lowe, which set her up for a winners’ side semifinal battle versus Amanda Rowland. Her hot seat and finals opponent, Tina Soto, in the meantime, was also awarded a bye and downed Calaia Jackson 5-2, and Becky Smith 5-1 to draw Kathy Knuth in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Lynch got into the hot seat match with a 6-1 victory over Rowland. Soto joined her after sending Knuth to the loss side 5-1. Lynch claimed the hot seat 6-2 over Soto and waited on her return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Rowland picked up Alicia Stanley, who, at skill level 7, had been Lynch’s toughest opponent in the tour’s opener in February. Stanley had a slow start this time out, falling to Ramona Baker Lee 4-2 (Stanley racing to 7) in the opening round. She went to work on a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would end in the semifinals. She had recently shut out Becky Smith and successfully wreaked her vengeance on Baker Lee 7-2 to face Rowland. Knuth drew Sheila Lowe, who followed her defeat at the hands of Lynch with two straight shutouts, over Calaia Jackson and April Gonzales to face Knuth.
Stanley advanced to the quarterfinals 7-2 over Rowland and was joined by Lowe, who stopped Knuth’s loss-side run at a single match 5-3. Stanley stopped Lowe’s loss-side run at three with a 7-3 win in those quarterfinals.
Soto then ended Stanley’s loss-side run at six matches with a 5-4 win in the semifinals (Stanley racing to 7). Soto turned for a second shot at Lynch in the hot seat.
Lynch duplicated the victory that had put her in the hot seat. She completed her second straight undefeated run with a second straight 6-2 win in the finals.
The DFW 9-Ball Ladies Tour Committee of Monica Anderson, Jennifer Hooten, Ginger Abadilla and Tournament Director David “Doc” Reyes thanked the tour’s sponsors OB Cues and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the tour, scheduled for May 15, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
