Tri-State Tour / Edison, NJ
by Lea Andrews
On May 30, Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, NJ, hosted 32 players competing for first in a B-D $500-added Tri-State Tour event. After a long day of undefeated play, Chris Taormina emerged as the winner, taking home a trophy and pocketing $460.
Taormino began his winning streak with victories over Gary Murgia 7-3, Teddy Lubis 7-4, and Tony Eglesias 7-6 to get himself into the winners’ side final four, where he met up with Ben Sadowski. He sent Sadowski west with a score of 7-4 and joined Rajesh Vannala, who had had a strong 7-2 win over Steve Fette, in the match for the hot seat.
On the one-loss side, George Osipovitch put Jason Egeln into seventh place with a score of 6-5, while Murgia did the same to Eglesias with a score of 7-6. Osipovitch then welcomed Sadowski to the one-loss side by putting him in fifth with a score of 7-6, while Murgia sent Fette to join him with a score of 7-3. Murgia and Osipovitch then fought to get higher than fourth, and it was Osipovitch who held on for a 7-5 win.
The semifinal match featured two players who clearly wanted to earn that spot in the finals, but it was Vannala who sealed the deal, putting Osipovitch, who had won a hefty six matches and a break-and-run contest worth $300, into third with a score of 7-5.
The single-race final match began with Vannala getting up 2-0. Taormino, though, was able to tie it up at 3-all and from there allowed Vannala only one more game, closing out his undefeated tournament with a final score of 7-5.
On May 30, Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, NJ, hosted 32 players competing for first in a B-D $500-added Tri-State Tour event. After a long day of undefeated play, Chris Taormina emerged as the winner, taking home a trophy and pocketing $460.
Results:
1st Chris Taormino $460
2nd Rajesh Vannala $270
3rd George Osipovitch $170
4th Gary Murgia $100
5th Ben Sadowski $50
Steve Sette