by Skip Maloney

Rhio Anne Flores played strong all day to win the Tri-State Tour stop.

Rhio Anne Flores played strong all day at the Tri-State Tour stop October 26 and finished undefeated at the top of the 32-entrant field. She withstood a strong, one-loss side challenge by Duane Toney in the finals of the $500-added, C-D handicapped event, hosted by Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ.

Earlier in the day, among the winners’ side final four, Flores sent Toby Clemens west with a 6-1 victory, as Joe Varvaro defeated Tony Arroyo 6-4 to meet her in the hot seat match. Varvaro mounted the toughest challenge of Flores’ final three matches, taking the hot seat match to hill-hill before being sent to the semifinals.

In the meantime, Toney was at work on the one-loss side, defeating Tri V Chau and Raphael DaBreo for the right to meet Clemens. Dmitry Rozenfeld, having defeated Randy Mackin and Michele Li, was there to meet Arroyo. Rozenfeld and Toney advanced to the quarterfinals on the heels of identical 6-4 victories, before Toney dropped Rozenfeld into fourth place 6-3 and turned to face Varvaro. Toney repeated that 6-3 performance against Varvaro for his chance to take on Flores in the finals.

In the true double-elimination finals, Flores, with a C handicap, started the race to six up by one game over the C+ handicapped Toney. It was a game in hand that she didn’t ultimately need, as she went on to defeat Toney in the first set 6-3, capturing the first-place prize.

Results:
1st Rhio Anne Flores $550
2nd Duane Toney $340
3rd Joe Varvaro $220
4th Dmitry Rozenfeld $130
5/6th Tony Arroyo $75
5/6th Toby Clemens
7/8th Michele Li $50
7/8th Raphael DaBreo
9/12th Randy Mackin
9/12th Ben Sadowski
9/12th Tri V Chau
9/12th Tom Ho