After going through her career without a single state title, in the JPNEWT's 2010 season, Megan Smith has now won back to back State Championships in Maryland and now in New York. On June 19-20, 2010, Megan went undefeated through a field of 23 players hailing from across the East Coast, making this her third win out the four stops so far in 2010. On the first day of the event, Megan drew a first-round bye, and in the second round came out of the gate firing on all cylinders, with a break and run in the first rack vs Gail Glazebrook, followed by two more in that match, winning 7-3. In the third round, Megan defeated Neslihan Gurel to move into Day 2. Gurel, who is in her 2nd season on the JPNEWT, would go on to finish tied for 5th in this event. To start off Day 2, four players remained in the winner's bracket. In this round, Megan Smith would defeat tour director Linda Haywood-Shea 7-4, while Kim Jones knocked junior phenom Briana Miller to the one-loss side by a 7-5 scoreline. In the match for the hot seat, Megan Smith stayed strong to defeat Kim Jones 7-4. On the one-loss side, New York's Emily Duddy came through to the quarterfinal to face Briana Miller, who eliminated Emily in a close 7-5 set. This bumped Briana up to to the semifinal, where her run at the title was ended by Kim Jones, also 7-4. Kim Jones then had another shot at Megan Smith in the final match, but Megan kept right in the groove that sent her undefeated through this event, to win 7-4. "I was really pumped up for the finals, and I knew I was ready to win." said Megan. Congratulations to Megan Smith on another great performance, as well as to runner-up Kim Jones, who received an entry into the 2010 WPBA US Open, which will be held on July 28-August 1 at the Riverwind Casino in Norman, OK. The next stop on the JPNEWT will be the New Jersey State 9-ball Championships on July 17-18 at Primetime Billiards in South Amboy, NJ.
- by Allison Fischer of NYCGrind.com

Two out of three ain't bad, and for Megan Smith, winning her second JPNEWT event out of the first three of the season also meant her first-ever state title. At the Maryland State 9-ball Championships at Champions Billiards Sports Bar & Cafe on May 1-2, twenty-seven players came out to battle for that honor, including other top players like My-Hanh Lac, Kim Jones, Liz Taylor, and Briana Miller, among others. Megan had previously won the tour's season opener, also at Champions Billiards, on March 27-28. Also showing great consistency in the first few events, junior phenom Briana Miller also finished 2nd to Megan Smith at both of the events at Champions, and finished 5th at the 2nd tour stop at Primetime Billiards. Running through the field to the final four, Megan Smith defeated Kathy Friend (7-5), while Briana Miller edged out My-Hanh Lac in the case game, to win at double hill, (7-6). Briana would also be faced with a tough challenge in the match for the hot seat, but would instead fall (7-6) to Megan Smith. Working her way through the one-loss side, Maryland's Kim Jones had wins over Borana Andoni and Sharon O'Hanlon, both ending 7-5. This set up Kim Jones to face Kathy Friend coming over from the winner's side, where Jones would also post a 7-5 win, moving on to the quarter final. Stacie Bourbeau fought through to make it past Shanna Lewis (7-5) and Pam Ogarek (7-6) on the one-loss side, but would be eliminated by My-Hanh Lac, 7-5. Moving on to the quarterfinal, Lac would soundly win 7-4 over Kim Jones. In the semifinal, My-Han Lac would rematch with Briana Miller, but would again be unsuccessful and settle for 3rd after a 7-3 loss. This win for Briana Miller would give her another chance at Megan Smith in the finals, but would not be given much of a chance, as Smith would dominate the finals with a 7-1 win, closing out her first-ever state title. However, this 2nd place finish would be enough for 14-year-old Briana Miller to secure the qualifier spot in the 2010 WPBA US Open. - by Allison Fischer of NYCGrind.com

For their second tour stop of the season, the ladies of the J. Pechauer Northeast Tour headed to Prime Time Billiards in Sayreville, NJ. A thirty-two player field of players from all over the East Coast came to make a statement in this event. Some of the top names include WPBA rising stars Liz Ford (NY), Megan Smith (PA), My-Hanh Lac (MD), Liz Taylor (MA), Supadra Geronimo (NY), and Kim Jones (MD). The first day of competition at Prime Time brought some early surprises, including Megan Smith, winner of the JPNEWT season opener in Frederick, MD, falling to Kim Jones (7-6). However, Smith powered through her next five matches, only giving up five games total in those sets. Meanwhile, the winner's side saw four players go undefeated to return on Sunday. One final four match up featured 14-year-old phenom Briana Miller against new WPBA tour card holder and Kiss of Death team member, Emily Duddy, where Emily closed the set with a 7-4 win. In the other final four match, New York's transplant from Turkey, Neslihan "Ness" Gürel, faced '08 and '09 New England Player of the Year, Liz Taylor, but did not fare so well and was sent to the one-loss side, 7-0. To follow up her shut out in the final four, Liz Taylor nearly blanked out Emily Duddy in the match for the hot seat, ending the set 7-1. In the previous round, after defeating Rhio Flores and Borana Andoni both 7-5, Liz Taylor faced one of her toughest challenges against one of the events other favorites, My-Hanh Lac, ranked #28 in the WPBA for 2009. The two battled to double-hill, where Liz took the case game to move to run through to the final match. However, My-Hanh was far from exiting the tournament… on the one-loss side, she easily defeated Erin McManus (7-2), and Megan Smith (7-3). My-Hanh Lac also had little trouble with Briana Miler, who had come from the winner's side final four, winning 7-1. Also grinding through the one-loss side, Liz Ford then faced Ness Gürel, who came with an upset win 7-3. Ness then moved on to the quarterfinal, where she was eliminated by My-Hanh Lac 7-2. In the semifinal match, Emily Duddy was looking to make a comeback after losing to Liz Taylor in the winner's side final. Emily and My-Hanh battled through the first half of the match, alternating games until they tied at 4-4, where My-Hanh ran away with the set to finish 7-4. Liz Taylor awaited a rematch with My-Hanh Lac in the finals, where My-Hanh would look to avenge her earlier hill-hill loss to Liz. However, Liz Taylor asserted her dominance in this match and never let My-Hanh in the door, winning 7-2. Congratulations to Liz Taylor on her impressive win! The next tour stop of the season will be the WPBA Maryland State Women's 9-ball Championships at Champion's Sports Bar & Grill in Frederick, MD, to be held on May 1-2.

Opening Event for 2010 for J Pechauer Women’s Tour – Champions Billiard Sports Cafe in Frederick, MD. Congratulations to the 31 women who competed in this weekend’s event. It was played in a wonderful room with more than 12 Gabriel and Olhaussen tables. The staff and food were fantastic . We appreciated our fans especially Rich and Kathy (the real regulars) and all the others including Mike Siegel. Thank you for your support Gary – we look forward to returning to you on May 1st and 2nd for the Maryland State Championship! Play started on Saturday with some great first round matches and wins by newcomers including an upset of My-Hanh Lac by new to the area Kim Jones and wins by Aubrey James, Pam Oves, and Shanna Lewis. We were glad to get some players back out to competition such as Ceci Strain, Kathy Friend, Patti Jakusz and Pauline Mattes. A special congratulations goes out to Kathy and her new Boy boy. Briana Miller and Erin McManus continued their winning ways of last weekend at the Super Billiards Expo and both steamrolled through Saturday to return on Sunday. Sunday’s winner’s side was rounded out by Megan Smith, Shanna Lewis and Neslihan Feliz. Also playing in the final eight were Sharon O’Hanlon, Olga Gashkova, and My-Hahn Lac. My-Hanh was on a winning streak of six before she hit the wall of Briana Miller who was focused on the finals. Briana finished in second place after losing to Megan Smith in the finals 7-2. Congratulations Megan!