onefrombills
10-04-2009, 07:22 PM
Barnsley - 10/3/2009
TEAM EUROPE enjoyed a tremendous afternoon at the PartyCasino.com Weber Cup as they won the Saturday afternoon session 5 -1 to open up a two point lead at Metrodome in Barnsley.
Dominic Barrett and Mika Koivuniemi both won a doubles and singles match and captain Osku Palermaa weighed in with two doubles matches. In fact, only Jason Couch and Pete Weber, in a doubles match, added to the US tally.
In the opening match of the afternoon session, Euro captain Osku Palermaa and Mika Koivuniemi (both Finland) hauled their team right back into the Weber Cup with a good win over Tim Mack and Chris Barnes. The win reduced the deficit to 3-4 in favour of the USA.
A couple of spares in the middle of the game derailed the Americans’ momentum as the Finnish pair kept the pressure on. When they struck out it ended American chances as Team Europe got within one with the 259-214.
In the second match of the day, a great show from the steadily improving Dominic Barrett saw the Europeans draw level at 4-4 as he beat 300 man Tommy Jones by a huge 86 pin margin. It was a sharp contrast to Jones’ performance on Friday evening when he bowled the third 300 game in Weber Cup history.
"I thought I would have to bowl amazingly but didn't know Tommy would have such trouble on the lane," said Barrett.
"But I bowled pretty good and it's a perfect start for us but we have some more tough matches. Hopefully we can take the lead by the end of this session."
The momentum swayed back in the Americans favour in the third game of the afternoon as the pairing of Pete Weber and Jason Couch performed superbly to post a 280 total which their opponents could not match.
In fact the dup of Paul Moor and Martin Larsen could only a muster a 203 total as the Americans moved into a 5-4 lead. That wasn’t to last though as PBA player Mika Koivuniemi edged past Chris Barnes by 208-196 in a match where both players started with open frames and went from there.
The tall Finn was pleased to keep his team on level terms, “I stayed focused and tried to do my job and I think I did well.
“It’s important to stay close as they are strong players, like us, and we don’t want to be too far behind.”
As if to mirror Koivuniemi’s words, the Europeans took the lead at 6-5 as Dom Barrett put in another great showing, as along with Osku Palermaa, they beat Tommy Jones and Jason Couch by a 29 pin margin.
The USA lead throughout but the mistake the Europeans were hoping for came in the ninth. Couch left 1-pin standing and Tommy Jones, unbelieveably, missed a single pin to give Europe hope. They needed three strikes and made them to creep past them for the win.
There were words exchange at the end as the normally good natured banter spilled over and Jones was noticeably riled.
“The pressure has been here all week and they are young guys but there's something called respect and we're going to teach it to them," stormed Jones.
In the final match of the session, the Europeans recorded a rare baker win to give themselves a two point lead as the Americans again faltered down the closing stages to let their opponents in.
DAY 2 RESULTS
Europe leads USA 7-5
Tim Mack / Chris Barnes 214 – 259 Mika Koivuniemi / Osku Palermaa
Tommy Jones 171 – 257 Dominic Barrett
Jason Couch / Pete Weber 280 – 203 Martin Larsen / Paul Moor
Chris Barnes 196 – 208 Mika Koivuniemi
Tommy Jones / Jason Couch 236 – 265 Dominic Barrett / Osku Palermaa
USA 237 – 256 Europe
TEAM EUROPE enjoyed a tremendous afternoon at the PartyCasino.com Weber Cup as they won the Saturday afternoon session 5 -1 to open up a two point lead at Metrodome in Barnsley.
Dominic Barrett and Mika Koivuniemi both won a doubles and singles match and captain Osku Palermaa weighed in with two doubles matches. In fact, only Jason Couch and Pete Weber, in a doubles match, added to the US tally.
In the opening match of the afternoon session, Euro captain Osku Palermaa and Mika Koivuniemi (both Finland) hauled their team right back into the Weber Cup with a good win over Tim Mack and Chris Barnes. The win reduced the deficit to 3-4 in favour of the USA.
A couple of spares in the middle of the game derailed the Americans’ momentum as the Finnish pair kept the pressure on. When they struck out it ended American chances as Team Europe got within one with the 259-214.
In the second match of the day, a great show from the steadily improving Dominic Barrett saw the Europeans draw level at 4-4 as he beat 300 man Tommy Jones by a huge 86 pin margin. It was a sharp contrast to Jones’ performance on Friday evening when he bowled the third 300 game in Weber Cup history.
"I thought I would have to bowl amazingly but didn't know Tommy would have such trouble on the lane," said Barrett.
"But I bowled pretty good and it's a perfect start for us but we have some more tough matches. Hopefully we can take the lead by the end of this session."
The momentum swayed back in the Americans favour in the third game of the afternoon as the pairing of Pete Weber and Jason Couch performed superbly to post a 280 total which their opponents could not match.
In fact the dup of Paul Moor and Martin Larsen could only a muster a 203 total as the Americans moved into a 5-4 lead. That wasn’t to last though as PBA player Mika Koivuniemi edged past Chris Barnes by 208-196 in a match where both players started with open frames and went from there.
The tall Finn was pleased to keep his team on level terms, “I stayed focused and tried to do my job and I think I did well.
“It’s important to stay close as they are strong players, like us, and we don’t want to be too far behind.”
As if to mirror Koivuniemi’s words, the Europeans took the lead at 6-5 as Dom Barrett put in another great showing, as along with Osku Palermaa, they beat Tommy Jones and Jason Couch by a 29 pin margin.
The USA lead throughout but the mistake the Europeans were hoping for came in the ninth. Couch left 1-pin standing and Tommy Jones, unbelieveably, missed a single pin to give Europe hope. They needed three strikes and made them to creep past them for the win.
There were words exchange at the end as the normally good natured banter spilled over and Jones was noticeably riled.
“The pressure has been here all week and they are young guys but there's something called respect and we're going to teach it to them," stormed Jones.
In the final match of the session, the Europeans recorded a rare baker win to give themselves a two point lead as the Americans again faltered down the closing stages to let their opponents in.
DAY 2 RESULTS
Europe leads USA 7-5
Tim Mack / Chris Barnes 214 – 259 Mika Koivuniemi / Osku Palermaa
Tommy Jones 171 – 257 Dominic Barrett
Jason Couch / Pete Weber 280 – 203 Martin Larsen / Paul Moor
Chris Barnes 196 – 208 Mika Koivuniemi
Tommy Jones / Jason Couch 236 – 265 Dominic Barrett / Osku Palermaa
USA 237 – 256 Europe