Romeo earns top qualifier honors at Senior Queens

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Defending champion Robin Romeo of Newhall, California, earned top qualifier honors Saturday as the 2015 United States Bowling Congress Senior Queens made the cut to match play.

Romeo, a USBC Hall of Famer, finished qualifying with a 15-game total of 3,111 (207.4 average) at The Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley. The top 32 players advanced to the double-elimination match-play bracket, which begins Sunday at 10 a.m. Eastern.

"Match play is a whole different ball game, and I think the way the scores are I just need to not worry about who I'm bowling, just bowl my own game and fill frames," Romeo said. "The Queens it's not how good you bowl sometimes it's just winning your match. As long as I fill my frames and win my matches, I don't care about the score."

In Saturday's third round, Romeo had her lowest five-game block of the tournament with 993 but had enough to maintain her lead. She shot 1,080 in the first round and 1,038 in the second round.

Kristy Whitcher of Belfair, Washington, earned the second seed with 3,029, while Lisa Wasson of Murphy, Texas, was third with 3,003.

Beth Owen-Cipielewski of Bradenton, Florida, settled into fourth place with 2,950, and Mandy Wilson of Dayton, Ohio, was fifth with 2,941.

Match play will continue all day Sunday and Monday until the final five are determined for the stepladder finals. BowlTV will broadcast the finals on Tuesday at 11 a.m. Eastern.

The player who survives the bracket to win the event will take home $3,000 of the $20,600 prize fund.

The Senior Queens, open to all female USBC members age 50 and older, marks the second stop of the Senior Women's Triple Crown Series presented by The Orleans. The Triple Crown Series is a special competition for bowlers who compete in the Senior Queens, National Golden Ladies Classic and the U.S. Women's Open.

The top 10 players in the Triple Crown standings, which combines qualifying totals from all three events, will take part in the Triple Crown Shoot-Out presented by The Orleans.

The Triple Crown Shoot-Out will be held after the U.S. Women's Open qualifying rounds Sept. 4 at Brunswick Zone Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick, New Jersey.

For more information on the Senior Queens, visit BOWL.com/SeniorQueens.