Woessner will look to defend title at 2023 USBC Senior Queens
April 21, 2023
LAS VEGAS – Jodi Woessner of Oregon, Ohio, didn’t feel much pressure heading into the 2022 United States Bowling Congress Senior Queens.
Instead, she and her fellow competitors were just happy to be back on the lanes after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event’s cancellation in 2020 and 2021.
Free from the weight of expectations, Woessner’s Senior Queens debut was one to remember as she authored a dominant performance at the Gold Coast Bowling Center in Las Vegas, averaging more than 225 over 31 games of qualifying, match play and stepladder competition.
Woessner capped things off with a 238-223 victory over USBC Hall of Famer Lucy Sandelin of Tampa, Florida, to collect the tiara awarded to the champion and the $8,000 top prize.
The 53-year-old right-hander will look to make it two for two and secure those top prizes once again when the 2023 Senior Queens kicks off Saturday at Gold Coast with the tournament’s official practice session before the first round of qualifying gets underway Sunday at 11 a.m. Eastern.
This year’s field features more than 90 of the top female USBC members age 50 and older, including past Senior Queens champions Sandelin (2017, 2013 and 2007), USBC and PWBA Hall of Famer Tish Johnson of Colorado Springs, Colorado (2018), Paula Vidad of Sun City, California (2011), and Char Hammel of Las Vegas (2010).
Nevertheless, as reigning champion, Woessner has to be considered the favorite.
That isn’t the way that she is looking at things, however; in fact, she claims to be under more pressure now than she was heading into her Senior Queens debut.
“Last year, even though I had a lot of people telling me that I should win it because I was a rookie and one of the younger bowlers out there, I didn’t really have any expectations,” Woessner said. “Now, coming in here trying to defend the title, I feel a lot more pressure, so I need to pay attention to my emotions and not take anything for granted.”
One thing that Woessner doesn’t intend to take for granted is the tournament’s qualifying round.
All competitors at the 2023 Senior Queens will bowl 15 games of qualifying over two days. The top 32 players, based on total pinfall, will advance to the double-elimination match-play bracket.
Woessner is guaranteed a position in the bracket as the defending champion based on her qualifying total; nevertheless, she isn’t downplaying the importance of those first 15 games.
“It would be easy to look at those qualifying games as practice since I’m already seeded into match play, but I don’t want to give any pins away,” Woessner said. “I want to use those games to try to get a higher seed and gain as much knowledge as I can heading into match play.”
Match play begins Monday at 4 p.m. Eastern and will feature three-game matches with total pinfall determining who advances. The five players who make their way through the bracket will advance to the stepladder finals. The event features a true double-elimination format, so the No. 1 seed for the stepladder finals would have to lose twice in the championship match.
Last year, Woessner earned that top seed and walked away with the title. Although she would obviously love to do the same this time around, she knows that the Senior Queens’ match-play format always makes things a bit unpredictable.
“Matching up with one person on one pair is tough because you could shoot 750 and they shoot 751, or you shoot 500 and they shoot 501,” Woessner said. “That makes the Senior Queens a much more difficult tournament to win, but it makes it exciting too.
“I just hope that I can get that same calmness that I had last year. You can’t force something like that; it just came to me last year, and it was just one of those tournaments when everything just sort of matched up well. If it doesn’t, then I’ll have to turn to Plan B, Plan C and Plan D.”
Fans will be able to watch Woessner and the rest of the field put those plans into action from start to finish as BowlTV.com will provide livestream coverage of each round of competition, including the stepladder finals, which will take place Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern.
For more information on the USBC Senior Queens, visit BOWL.com/SeniorQueens.
Instead, she and her fellow competitors were just happy to be back on the lanes after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event’s cancellation in 2020 and 2021.
Free from the weight of expectations, Woessner’s Senior Queens debut was one to remember as she authored a dominant performance at the Gold Coast Bowling Center in Las Vegas, averaging more than 225 over 31 games of qualifying, match play and stepladder competition.
Woessner capped things off with a 238-223 victory over USBC Hall of Famer Lucy Sandelin of Tampa, Florida, to collect the tiara awarded to the champion and the $8,000 top prize.
The 53-year-old right-hander will look to make it two for two and secure those top prizes once again when the 2023 Senior Queens kicks off Saturday at Gold Coast with the tournament’s official practice session before the first round of qualifying gets underway Sunday at 11 a.m. Eastern.
This year’s field features more than 90 of the top female USBC members age 50 and older, including past Senior Queens champions Sandelin (2017, 2013 and 2007), USBC and PWBA Hall of Famer Tish Johnson of Colorado Springs, Colorado (2018), Paula Vidad of Sun City, California (2011), and Char Hammel of Las Vegas (2010).
Nevertheless, as reigning champion, Woessner has to be considered the favorite.
That isn’t the way that she is looking at things, however; in fact, she claims to be under more pressure now than she was heading into her Senior Queens debut.
“Last year, even though I had a lot of people telling me that I should win it because I was a rookie and one of the younger bowlers out there, I didn’t really have any expectations,” Woessner said. “Now, coming in here trying to defend the title, I feel a lot more pressure, so I need to pay attention to my emotions and not take anything for granted.”
One thing that Woessner doesn’t intend to take for granted is the tournament’s qualifying round.
All competitors at the 2023 Senior Queens will bowl 15 games of qualifying over two days. The top 32 players, based on total pinfall, will advance to the double-elimination match-play bracket.
Woessner is guaranteed a position in the bracket as the defending champion based on her qualifying total; nevertheless, she isn’t downplaying the importance of those first 15 games.
“It would be easy to look at those qualifying games as practice since I’m already seeded into match play, but I don’t want to give any pins away,” Woessner said. “I want to use those games to try to get a higher seed and gain as much knowledge as I can heading into match play.”
Match play begins Monday at 4 p.m. Eastern and will feature three-game matches with total pinfall determining who advances. The five players who make their way through the bracket will advance to the stepladder finals. The event features a true double-elimination format, so the No. 1 seed for the stepladder finals would have to lose twice in the championship match.
Last year, Woessner earned that top seed and walked away with the title. Although she would obviously love to do the same this time around, she knows that the Senior Queens’ match-play format always makes things a bit unpredictable.
“Matching up with one person on one pair is tough because you could shoot 750 and they shoot 751, or you shoot 500 and they shoot 501,” Woessner said. “That makes the Senior Queens a much more difficult tournament to win, but it makes it exciting too.
“I just hope that I can get that same calmness that I had last year. You can’t force something like that; it just came to me last year, and it was just one of those tournaments when everything just sort of matched up well. If it doesn’t, then I’ll have to turn to Plan B, Plan C and Plan D.”
Fans will be able to watch Woessner and the rest of the field put those plans into action from start to finish as BowlTV.com will provide livestream coverage of each round of competition, including the stepladder finals, which will take place Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern.
For more information on the USBC Senior Queens, visit BOWL.com/SeniorQueens.