Atom Splitters, Muscle Clinch Playoff Berths
Akron dominates Waco, Motown takes down New Jersey in Round 11
The PBA World Series of Bowling XV got underway on Wednesday with Round 11 of the PBA Elite League presented by Snickers.
The Las Vegas High Rollers and Portland Lumberjacks each picked up a win to move to 8-3 on the season. Las Vegas holds the tiebreaker for the league’s best record by virtue of their Round 5 victory over Portland.
The story out of Allen Park, however, is the clinching of postseason berths by the Akron Atom Splitters and Motown Muscle.
Akron, entering the night at 6-4, needed just a win over the last-place Waco Wonders to clinch.
The Atom Splitters came out with intention, firing the front-eight strikes to eviscerate the Wonders in Game 1. A strike from anchor Jesper Svensson in Game 2 sealed the deal.
“It’s always a great feeling,” said acting-manager Chris Via. “It was going to be pretty hard for us to not make the playoffs, but it's always nice just to go ahead and do it yourself. Obviously we want to try to get one of those byes, too, so anything we can to try to move up those standings. If we keep bowling like that, I think we'll be just fine.”
Via said the extended season has allowed the team to gel as they better understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
“With bowling every week, we get a chance to get a feel for how players react to certain situations or being placed in certain places in the lineup or whatever it may be,” Via said. “We used to put so much pressure on ourselves that if we bowled bad, we felt like we let the team down. Now, we're able to joke with each other if somebody makes a bad shot. It makes life a lot easier to go up and make a good shot when you know the guys behind you trust them.”
Motown, on the other hand, needed some help. First, they had to beat the league-leading New Jersey KingPins. They also needed losses from the Wonders and Dallas Strikers.
Motown made light work of New Jersey, winning in consecutive games 211-193 and 256-236. Team manager Jason Couch said he wanted to get Justin Knowles, a Detroit native with plenty of experience and success at Thunderbowl Lanes, in the lineup.
Akron had already dispatched the Wonders, so the Muscle awaited the results of a thrilling Lumberjacks-Strikers roll-off.
After splitting the two-game match, Dallas and Portland each fired three strikes in the three-ball roll-off. Shawn Maldonado and Wes Malott exchanged strikes in the first sudden-death round, Jakob Butturff left a bucket and Arturo Quintero followed up with a match-clinching strike for the Lumberjacks.
All three of Motown’s desired outcomes came to fruition in the team’s home city, sending the EJ Tackett and Anthony Simonsen-led Muscle to the playoffs in Portland, Maine.
“I'll be honest with you: We’re stacked,” Couch said. “Early on, we didn't bowl well. We just didn't blend together. But we picked it up here in the middle of the year and it’s been really good. They talk a lot during practice. We've mixed around the lineups a few times and it seems to work better.”
In the final match of the night, Las Vegas took down Jason Belmonte’s Lucky Strike L.A. X in consecutive games, 190-166, 246-215. The High Rollers return to the top of the standings with three rounds to go in the season.
L.A. X holds a two-game advantage over Dallas and Waco for the final postseason berth.
The PBA Elite League continues this weekend as all four teams will compete their Round 12 match on FS1.
Saturday’s showdown will feature the league’s top two teams, Las Vegas and Portland, battling for Elite League supremacy. Additionally, the cellar-dwellers Dallas and Waco will face off.
The hometown Muscle host the Atom Splitters on Sunday, while the KingPins battle the struggling L.A. X.
More information on the PBA Elite League is available here.
Round 11 Scores
Motown def. New Jersey, 2-0 (211-193, 256-236)
Portland def. Dallas, 2-1 (189-190, 265-236, (30-30, 10-10, 10-6))
Akron def. Waco, 2-0 (269-177, 221-186)
Las Vegas def. L.A., 2-0 (190-166, 246-215)
Round 12 Schedule
April 6 | 1:30pm ET | FS1
Waco vs. Dallas
Las Vegas vs. Portland
April 7 | Noon ET | FS1
New Jersey vs. L.A. X
Akron vs. Motown