Orcollo claims VA State 10-Ball Championship title

 

Instead, the respective 2017 Open and Ladies' titles went to Dennis Orcollo and Meredith Lynch. 

The Open event drew 60 entrants, while the Ladies' event drew 14, both to Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.

 

Orcollo and the 2015 VA State 10-Ball Champion, Shaun Wilkie, battled twice in this year's event. Wilkie won their first match (one of the winners' side semifinals), and Orcollo won their second, in the finals.

 

Orcollo's position as the #3-ranked player in the world, may have led some to believe that he'd cut through this field like a hot knife through warm butter, but 'butter' fought back a bit in this event. Through his opening four matches, Orcollo was giving up between three and four racks per match; four each to Max Schlothauer and Jarrod Clowery, and three each to Chris Bruner and Reymart Lim. Orcollo was still a 'hot knife,' but his opponents in this event were doing a good imitation of butter just out of the refrigerator. In the winners' side semifinals, the 'hot knife' ran into some fresh-out-of-the-freezer butter, in the person of Shaun Wilkie, who defeated him 8-4 to get into the hot seat match. Wilkie was joined by Larry Kressel, who'd sent John Newton to the loss side 8-3 in their winners' side semifinal. Wilkie claimed the hot seat 8-4 over Kressel, and waited (the butter approaching room temperature) for the return of the 'hot knife.'

 

On the loss side, Orcollo picked up Mike Davis, who'd been defeated by Bobby Stovall in the second round and was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him just as far as Orcollo. Newton drew Reymart Lim, who'd gotten by Chris Futrell 6-2, and Sean Sporleder 6-4 to reach him. 

 

Orcollo cut through Davis without giving up a single rack, and in the quarterfinals, faced Lim, who'd given up only one rack to Newton. In the quarterfinals and semifinals, Lim and then, Kressel, put up back-to-back, three-racks-against fights, but were eliminated, sending Orcollo back for a re-match against Wilkie. 

 

It wasn't looking good for the 'knife' in the early going of the finals, as Wilkie took a 5-2 lead. Orcollo, though won eight of the next nine games to claim the event title.

 

Lynch goes undefeated to claim VA State Ladies' 10-Ball title

 

[photo id=45763|align=right]It took Meredith Lynch just five matches to claim the 2017 VA State Ladies' Championship title. She got into the hot seat with an aggregate score of 24-11. Once by Sierra Reams and Lisa Cossette, she faced Bethany Sykes in a winners' side semifinal, as Cheryl Pritchard squared off against Nicole Fleming. Lynch downed Sykes 6-3, and in the hot seat match, in their first of two, faced Pritchard, who'd sent Fleming west 6-4. Lynch gave up four of the 11 racks she'd given up to gain the hot seat by defeating Pritchard 6-4.

 

On the loss side, Sykes picked up Tina Malm (winner of the APT's Ladies' season opener in January), who'd been defeated by Cossette in the opening round, and gotten by Sierra Reams 5-3, Melissa Mason 5-2, and last year's runner-up, Jacki Duggan, double hill, to reach her. Fleming drew Daisy Lim, who, like Malm, had lost an opening round match (to Fleming 6-1) and downed Terry Stovall, double hill; Cossette 5-3, and Gwen Townsend, double hill to earn a re-match against Fleming.

 

Sykes and Fleming advanced to the quarterfinals; Sykes 5-2 over Malm, and Fleming 5-3 over Lim, a second time. Three straight double hill battles marked the end of the Ladies' event. Fleming downed Sykes in the quarterfinals, and then, Pritchard eliminated Fleming in the semifinals. Pritchard put up a double hill fight in her second match against Lynch, but Lynch hung on to win 8-7.