{"id":201558,"date":"2026-04-18T04:22:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201558\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T04:22:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:22:38","slug":"ausec-kato-asuncion-among-16-still-in-contention-for-2026-usbc-senior-queens-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201558\/","title":{"rendered":"Ausec, Kato-Asuncion among 16 still in contention for 2026 USBC Senior Queens title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Match-Play Bracket<\/a><\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS \u2013 After the first day of match play at the 2026 United States Bowling Congress Senior Queens, only 16 bowlers remain in the hunt for the title and tiara at Sam\u2019s Town Bowling Center in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Eight of those 16 went 2-0 in their matches during the double-elimination bracket and can still grab the No. 1 seed, while the other eight must continue to win in the contender\u2019s bracket or be knocked out of the tournament.<\/p>\n

Top qualifier Liz Johnson of Niagara Falls, New York, continues her quest for a second straight Senior Queens title as one of the eight undefeated players. Others still in the winner\u2019s bracket include Lauren Sammel of Madison, Wisconsin; Dana Ausec of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Rina Sabo of Bennett, Colorado; Jodi Woessner of Oregon, Ohio; Penny Fentiman of Sweet Home, Oregon; Joan Simi-Dalton of Lubbock, Texas; and Lynda Barnes of Denton, Texas.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the eight who got knocked down early with a loss but are still fighting include Wanda Elias of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Wanda Parker of Garland, Texas; Christine Kato-Asuncion of Pearl City, Hawaii; Donna Garrambone-Ryan of Smithtown, New York; Devera Buckley of St. Louis; Kristin McEntee of Whiting, Indiana; Jody Scheerer of Orlando, Florida; and Australia\u2019s Samantha Matthews. <\/p>\n

For Ausec, who won the 2023 event in her first year eligible before earning a runner-up finish in 2024, she\u2019s settled into a good rhythm after her up and down qualifying blocks. She entered match play as the No. 21 seed before beating No. 12 Garrambone-Ryan of Smithtown, New York, 652-585, before another win over No. 28 seed Sandi Charles of Nolanville, Texas, 702-584.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Qualifying) just felt like a grind for 15 games,\u201d said Ausec. \u201cEspecially today, the third block there was kind of a consensus among a lot of the women I talked to that today was a little more difficult than yesterday, so that made me feel a little bit better. But I was just happy to make the cut, and I kept telling myself it\u2019s a brand-new tournament once you make the cut and here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a stark difference compared to 2025 where she qualified in third but fell in the opening round. She won two matches in the contender\u2019s bracket before being knocked out for a 13th-place finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny, because in hindsight, leading up to this tournament, for the last year I kind of felt like it was a disappointing finish,\u201d said Ausec. \u201cThen I went back and looked and I\u2019m like, that\u2019s really not bad. It\u2019s just in that moment, when you\u2019re first and second the two years prior, it feels disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s managed to turn that experience into a positive, along with being able to compete on Senior Team USA to improve her game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to see so many different situations like getting to see transition a lot better than what we see at home and we work together,\u201d Ausec said. \u201cEven though we\u2019re all going against each other in this tournament, Lynda (Barnes) and I have had conversations, Rina (Sabo) and I have had conversations, Jodi (Woessner) and I have had conversations. We\u2019re genuinely rooting for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll have to set that aside for tomorrow\u2019s match against Sabo, last year\u2019s runner-up to Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it comes down to it, the game faces are on and it\u2019ll just be like we\u2019re back in Colorado Springs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Over in the contender\u2019s bracket, Kato-Asuncion survived against Germany\u2019s Anette Fineiss, 574-569, after going down by 50 pins after the first game of the match, but made the comeback to stay alive during her first time competing in the event after turning 50.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, even if I shot 150 the first game, I\u2019m not out,\u201d Kato-Asuncion said. \u201cI kept telling myself, \u2018You\u2019re not out. Just pick at that deficit, just keep going.\u2019 So I ended up changing balls, changing the line, and again, just picking at that deficit until the last frame.\u201d<\/p>\n

While no stranger to high-level competitions, bowling the Senior Queens is a different experience compared to the Queens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is so much fun,\u201d said Kato-Asuncion. \u201cI bowled the regular Queens many years ago, but this one is just a lot more relaxed. There\u2019s still very strong competition because the women out here, they want to win, but it\u2019s just a different vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawaiian bowler is in Las Vegas with a group of friends and her brother in tow for support and help on the lanes while her husband is back home, supporting her by watching the BowlTV streams. Her brother will be helping her attack the lanes tomorrow morning for the next set of matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll probably talk to my brother and just come up with a game plan, because every time we went on a fresh pair it felt different \u2013 different line, different ball,\u201d said Kato-Asuncion. \u201cSo we\u2019ll try everything during warm-up and take full advantage of those 10 minutes of practice. Kind of a fresh start, basically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Match play continues all day Saturday at noon Eastern for all 16 competitors to determine the top five in the stepladder finals on Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern. The No. 1 seed in the stepladder will have to be beaten twice, and the winner will receive the title, tiara and $8,000 top prize.<\/p>\n

For more information on the USBC Senior Queens, visit BOWL.com\/senior-queens<\/a>. \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Match-Play Bracket LAS VEGAS \u2013 After the first day of match play at the 2026 United States Bowling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-201558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}