Victor Nau, Borana Andoni, and Kyle Bubet
Borani Andoni has finished among the top 10 in every Tri-State and JPNEWT Tour stop in 2012. On Saturday, December 15, she went undefeated to chalk up her first Tri-State victory of the year, claiming the title without benefit of a final match against Victor Nau, who'd won seven on the loss side to face her. The two opted to split the first and second place prize, with the undefeated Andoni claiming the official event title. The $1,000-added event, second stop on the 2012/2013 Tri-State Tour, drew 33 entrants to Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ.
Andoni survived two, double hill matches on her way to the hot seat, the last, facing Kapriel Delimelkonoglu among the winners' side final four. As she was busy with that match, her eventual hot seat opponent, Kyle Bubet was working on his own double hill victory over Joe Varvaro. Andoni played what proved to be her last match, that, with a 7-5 win over Bubet, left her in the hot seat.
Nau, in the meantime, who'd been sent west by Eddie Medina, was working on his seven-match, loss-side streak. With two notches on the loss-side belt, Nau defeated Geovany Hosang 7-4 and then, took down Scott Simonetti 7-5 (Simonetti had eliminated Medina in the previous round of loss-side action). Nau picked up Delimelkonoglu. Varvaro drew Ray Marisette, who'd eliminated Bernie Vogelsang 6-4 and Yomaylin Feliz 6-5, to reach him.
Nau defeated Delimelkonoglu 7-4, and in the quarterfinal match, faced Varvaro, who'd been awarded a forfeit victory over Marisette. Nau squeaked by Varvaro 8-7, and then, in his last match of the event, took down Bubet 9-7. At this point, Nau and Andoni opted not to play the final match, splitting the first and second place prize, and declaring the undefeated Andoni as the event winner.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Castle Billiards, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Ron Tarr Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics.
