PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio – Melissa Voytko made the most of her first career stepladder finals appearance on the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Regional Tour by taking home the title in the PWBA Cleveland Regional Sunday at Yorktown Lanes.
Voytko, a 36-year-old left-hander from Brunswick, Ohio, defeated fellow lefty and tournament leader Samantha Knight of Muskegon, Michigan, in the title match, 229-213.
“I really thought winning the (Ohio) State Queens was going to be the best thing I’d ever do in bowling,” Voytko said. “But I feel like this just trumps everything that I’ve done so far. I never thought that I would actually have a PWBA title, so this is pretty crazy.”
The win, which netted Voytko $2,100, also secures her a spot in the season-ending PWBA Regional Showdown, which will be held at Aloma Bowl in Winter Park, Florida, from Dec. 5-7.
Voytko and the other regional champions from 2024 will automatically be seeded for match play at the Regional Showdown. The remaining spots in the 16-person field will be awarded based on the results of an eight-game qualifying round that will be open to all PWBA Regional-eligible bowlers.
The top 16 players will compete in round-robin match play before the field is cut to the final four bowlers for the stepladder finals.
Every player who qualifies for match play will cash at the Regional Showdown. If the number of entries is high enough, additional cash spots outside the top 16 will be paid at a ratio of 1:3 as is done for PWBA National Tour prize funds.
The winner of the 2024 Regional Showdown will not only receive a cash prize, but she also will have her entry fees covered for all 2025 PWBA National Tour singles events as well.
“I know I’m now going to the Showdown and I know if I were to win the Showdown, my tournaments are paid for next year,” Voytko said. “So, that would open up a lot of opportunity, especially from a financial standpoint.”
Voytko entered the title match as the No. 2 seed and the only competitor in the 87-player field to navigate the eight-game qualifying block without rolling a game under 200 (her low game in qualifying was 204). Knight, 28, was equally as impressive in qualifying, averaging 221.63 for her eight games and rolling just one game under 200 (194) to earn the No. 1 seed for the stepladder.
Knight, who threw different balls on each lane in the title match, jumped out to the early lead as she opened with a double, converted the 4-7 for a spare in the third frame, and then stuck again in Frame 4. Voytko started with a strike, but suffered an open frame in the second after leaving the 4-6-7-8-10 split. A single-pin spare conversion in the third left her trailing by 26 pins early.
Voytko then decided it was time for a ball change.
“I saw that Sam was throwing urethane on the right lane,” Voytko said. “It made me think of qualifying where, at one point, I ended up following someone who was throwing urethane, and I didn’t have a very good couple of frames when that happened. I switched to a Phaze II at that time, and it was very predictable and rolled really well, so that thought popped in my head when I realized what Sam was throwing. I decided to make the same switch and thank God I did.”
Voytko made the switch in Frame 4 and promptly reeled off five consecutive strikes that turned the tide of the match.
Knight, who also was making her first career appearance in a PWBA stepladder finals, converted three consecutive single-pin spares in frames five through seven, then left the 6-7 split in Frame 8. At that point, with Voytko on a spare in the ninth frame, Knight decided it was time to make a change of her own.
“I knew I needed all four strikes in the ninth and 10th frames to have any chance, and I wasn’t going to throw four in a row throwing what I was throwing,” Knight said. “So, I switched to a Vaporize to try and get through the fronts cleaner.”
The result was four strikes to close out the match for Knight. That put the pressure back on Voytko, who now needed a mark in her 10th frame to earn the victory. She calmly responded with a flush strike on her first shot in the 10th, then threw one more on her next shot to wrap up the win.
“Being able to throw those first few strikes after I made the ball change gave me a lot of confidence,” Voytko said. “I knew then it was my match to win.”
The stepladder finals started with a matchup of right-handers as #4 seed Summer Jasmin of Beckley, West Virginia, took on #3 seed Alyssa Pierson of Waukesha, Wisconsin. Pierson, 32, like Voytko and Knight, was making her first appearance in a PWBA stepladder finals and was up against a two-time PWBA regional champion in Jasmin.
In a low-scoring match, it was Jasmin, 36, who doubled in her 10th frame, which forced Pierson to double in her 10th frame in order to win. But Pierson left a 10 pin on her first shot in the 10th, and Jasmin escaped with a 177-162 victory.
Jasmin wouldn’t be as fortunate in the semifinal match against Voytko. Twice she was unable to convert the 3-6-10 and had another open frame when she failed to convert the 3-4-6-7 split. She could only muster a score of 162, while Voytko rolled a clean 205 to advance to the championship match.
The win was especially gratifying for Voytko given where her priorities lie these days.
“Bowling is important to me, but my daughter (Kara, who is 11) and the things that she does, and her love for soccer, that’s where I spend my time now,” Voytko said. “I think that’s probably the biggest difference this year for me is that I don’t feel that much pressure to perform when I bowl because my focus is on something else that’s important to me.”
Knight collected $1,100 for second, Jasmin pocketed $800 for third and Pierson took home $600 for fourth.
The next PWBA Regional event will be the Northern Colorado Regional at Highland Park Lanes in Greeley, Colorado, on Oct. 26.
