Senna Nabs First Win of the Year

By Bill Rosenberger

The New England Invitational B-Series wrapped up their first-ever spring schedule with a 17-player field converging at Snookers Billiards in Providence, RI.  The April 17 finale drew the tour's top players including points leader Joe Dupree, Chris Leal and Shane Cote. 

The dark horse in the field, though, was Rich Senna, who was seeking his first career win.  After dominating his first few opponents, Senna reached the hot seat match against Dave Lemay, who had just sweated out a 7-5 victory over Dupree.  Lemay had jumped out to a 5-0 lead o­n Dupree before the tour's number-one ranked player came back to tie it up.  In the hot seat match, though, it was Senna who raced to a 5-0 lead, but Lemay was unable to answer the call, and Senna walked away with a 7-2 victory to reach the finals.

Lemay took his game to the semifinals where he faced Ivo Petro, who also jumped out to a healthy 3-0 lead before Lemay could tally a win o­n the board.  After Petro took the next rack, the two traded the last few games until Petro took the win 7-3.

The race-to-11 final match included a lot of safety play from both Senna and Petro, and they kept it neck and neck through the first 14 games.  With the score tied at 7 apiece, Petro made a costly mistake that led to Senna tallying two more wins o­n the board.  After Petro notched another game, Senna reached the hill, and two racks later, he earned his first victory of the year 11-9.

Results:

1st Rich Senna $580
2nd Ivo Petro $330
3rd Dave Lemay $180
4th Joe Dupree $40

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