SIUE’s Bayless is Runner-up at ACUI 9-Ball Nationals
Allie Bayless, a junior in the SIUE School of Education, Health and Human Behavior, placed second in the Association for College Unions International (ACUI) national 9-ball tournament held during late June at the University of Akron (Ohio).
Eight women qualified for the finals after advancing from sectional tournament play. A Paris, Ill. native, Bayless won three elimination matches to reach the finals against Briana Miller, a multiple junior national champion from Lindenwood University (St. Charles, Mo).
Bayless represented Cougar Lanes in the Morris University Center. She was undefeated at a sectional qualifier held at the University of Illinois last February and gained an automatic berth into the national tournament.
Bayless received her first cue stick from her dad, a long-time billiards player, when she was sixteen. “I only started playing in real leagues two years ago when I came to SIUE,” she said.
Bayless has played in the Cougar Lanes Tuesday night pool league for the past two years. “I would like to continue competing on the college level, but I think I will always play in some sort of league,” Bayless added.
SIUE has a rich tradition when it comes to the national billiards tournament. In 1964, Bill Hendricks won the ACUI tournament. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, SIUE pharmacy student Lars Vardaman won three-consecutive national tournament titles.
Cougar Lanes currently hosts eight-ball and nine-ball leagues, and tournaments for students on Tuesday evenings throughout the semester. There is also a student billiards club with approximately 20 members. The top club players are selected to form a team that plays other universities in tournaments. The club meets Monday nights at Cougar Lanes.
