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PWBA and PBA tours prepare for annual SABC Mixed Doubles tournament in Houston

HOUSTON- Each year, the best men’s and women’s bowlers in the world join forces for a great cause, and this year is no different as the Professional Bowlers Association/Professional Women’s Bowling Association Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles tournament kicks off Thursday at Copperfield Bowl in Houston.

Those bowling in the event will have practice throughout the day Thursday before the Beauties vs Beasts match that evening, which brings the top five from both associations together based on last year’s qualifying results and pairs them up for a quick pre-tournament competition.

The five bowlers from the PWBA side will be Verity Crawley of England, Dasha Kovalova of Ukraine, Stephanie Zavala of Downey, California, Bryanna Coté of Tucson, Arizona, and Carlene Beyer of Ogdensburg, Wisconsin, while the PBA side will include EJ Tackett of Bluffton, Indiana, Tommy Jones of Simpsonville, South Carolina, Austin Boulds of Creal Springs, Illinois, Matt Kuba of Minster, Ohio, and Dom Barrett of England. Teams will be Crawley/Tackett, Kovalova/Jones, Zavala/Boulds, Coté/Kuba and Beyer/Barrett as they compete for prize money and bragging rights.

Competition starts Friday with A Squad qualifying at 9 a.m. Eastern before B Squad takes the lanes at 3 p.m. Eastern. Qualifying will continue on Saturday with C Squad at 9 a.m. Eastern and D Squad at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Each doubles team will bowl seven games, and the top quarter of the field will move on to the semifinals on Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern. There, each duo will bowl another four games before the field is trimmed to the top 12 teams for round-robin match play.

Match play is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. Eastern on Sunday, with a short break after six games before starting back up for the final six games at 3:30 p.m. Eastern to determine who wins the event and adds a title to their resumes.

Last year, Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, New York, and Anthony Simonsen of Las Vegas qualified in 30th for the semifinals before going full steam ahead to close out the weekend with titles. They will partner again this year in hopes of winning the event in back-to-back years.

BowlTV will live stream the event all weekend long starting with the Beauties vs Beasts match on Thursday at 5 p.m. Eastern.

The tournament is held annually in support of cancer research and was originally started by PWBA Hall of Famer Donna Conners. Conners, who continues to be the tournament director to this day, started the tournament in honor of former PWBA member Luci Bonneau after Bonneau’s own breast cancer diagnosis. You can read more about the foundation here: https://strikingagainstbreastcancer.org/about/