Jia Li
In only her second appearance on the 2016 J. Pechauer Northeast Women's Tour, Jia Li jumped from 28th place in the tour rankings to a spot among the top 10. She did this with an undefeated run on the tour's seventh stop on the weekend of August 6-7. The $500-added event drew 19 entrants to a new venue on the tour - Level2 Billiards, in Somerdale, NJ.
Two wins, including a 7-1 victory over tour director Linda Shea, who leads the tour's ranking list, put Li into a winners' side semifinal against Jenn Keeney. Three wins put Briana Miller in the other winners' side semifinal versus Boye Lu. Li downed Keeney 7-2 and in the hot seat match, faced Miller, who'd sent Lu to the loss side 7-1. Li took the first of two against Miller 7-4 and waited on her return.
On the loss side, Keeney picked up Meredith Lynch, who'd been sent to the loss side by Miller, survived a double hill match versus Elaine Wilson, and defeated Emily Herpel 7-3. Lu drew Shea, who, following her defeat at the hands of Li, downed Nicole Monaco 7-4 and Nicole Fleming 7-1.
Shea and Lu locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Shea to the quarterfinals. She was joined by Lynch, who'd ended Keeney's weekend 7-2. Shea took the quarterfinal match 7-4 over Lynch, who moved up a spot or two in the rankings behind Shea, Karen Corr and Kia Sidbury.
Shea now faced Miller in the semifinals. Miller, last seen on the tour playing runner-up to Karen Corr in June, thwarted Shea's attempt for a re-match against Li with a 7-5 win. Li, looking for her first 2016 JPNEWT event title (she'd placed third in a stop back in May), ended any thoughts Miller had about winning her first 2016 JPNEWT stop. They fought to double hill before Li finished to claim the title.
