Slivka Takes Two while Lac Lands Four

Slivka Takes Two while Lac Lands Four

Tiger Pool Tour / Laurel, MD
by Rick Davis
The Tiger Pool Tour visited Side Pockets in Laurel, MD, over the June 2-3 weekend, and Jerry Slivka came back from a late loss to claim his second win this season, while My-Hahn Lac continued her reign, going undefeated to take her fourth win of the season.
In the open division a stacked 79-player field emerged, but it was recent EnjoyPool.com 9-Ball Championship semifinalist Mike Davis and Slivka who were in control of the board. Starting from opposite ends, they made their way towards each other, sending every opponent west. Highlights included Davis’ defeat of tour regular Danny Mullohen and Larry Kressel, while Slivka dealt with Shaun “Get Some” Wilkie on his road through the charts. Davis and Slivka met in the hot seat match, slicing through the field like no one else was there, and after a double-hill showdown Davis was on top as king of the hill. On the one-loss side Brandon Shuff was recovering from an early loss, taking eight matches before falling to Kressel 7-5 and allowing him to reach the quarterfinals. On the other end of the chart, the player to beat rotated every round until Wilkie arrived to eliminate the remaining hopefuls and face Kressel. Wilkie ousted Kressel 7-5 but then ran out of gas as Slivka drilled him 7-2 in the semifinals to return for another shot at Davis. Slivka was familiar with the finals and put the pressure on Davis early; once in control Slivka increased his lead until finally taking the match 11-9, winning his second tour stop.
In the ladies’ division a 26-player field came out to be sacrificed to Lac, who has completely dominated the tour all season. Lac had the luck to draw one of six opening byes then took four matches, including defeating Ellen Yu 7-3 in the hot seat match, to reach her very familiar spot in the finals. On the one-loss side Malea Haacke and Sherri Pouncey were clawing towards the light, although each slipped just before the quarterfinals. Pouncey was iced by Cheryl Squire 5-1, while Haacke was eliminated by Falon Farleigh 5-3. This put Farleigh and Squire in the quarterfinals. Farleigh made a rare stand in the semifinals, knocking out Yu double-hill to return to the finals. Lac though had another win in sight and drilled through the match 9-1 to take yet another dominating win.
Open Results:
1st Jerry Slivka
2nd Mike Davis
3rd Shaun Wilkie
4th Larry Kressel
5th Brandon Shuff
Joe Cataldi
7th Myke Munoz
Ilir Jaho
9th Walt Hendrick
Mitch Trainham
Brian Deska
Andy Lincoln
Ladies Results:
1st My-Hahn Lac
2nd Falon Farleigh
3rd Ellen Yu
4th Cheryl Squire
5th Sherri Pouncey
Malea Haacke
7th Ceci Strain
Judie Wilson