MERRILLVILLE, Ind. – Jason Lundquist averaged 230.13 over his eight-game block Sunday to finish qualifying with a  3,662 16-game pinfall to earn the top spot for match play in the 2008 Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Regional Players Championship at Stardust Bowl II.

The Regional Players Championship is one of two majors on the PBA Regional Tour and offers a $10,000 top-prize, a berth in the 2008-09 PBA Tournament of Champions and an automatic entry into the PBA Regional Players Invitational, where eight exemptions for the 2009-10 PBA Tour season will be up for grabs.

Lundquist became a PBA member in 2006 and won his lone PBA Regional Tour title last summer. He just missed an exemption for the 2008-09 Denny’s PBA Tour, finishing second in the PBA East Region.

The 32-year-old from Delaware Water Gap, Pa., finished fourth at last year’s Regional Players Championship, falling to eventual champion Scott Santos in the semifinals. He’ll look to survive single elimination match play on Monday and earn a shot at redemption.

“I think I have a good enough ball reaction and since I’ll be facing lower seeds early on tomorrow I’ll have the better chance,” Lundquist said. “I have better carry right now that not too many people can touch. As long as I can keep that reaction going I’ll be okay.”

The lefty maintained his success from Saturday’s first day of qualifying without too many adjustments.

“(Saturday) there was a lot more hook so I tightened up my line but played the same part of the lane. I played fourth arrow almost the entire day and never moved right of 23-24,” Lundquist said. “I was a little more consistent today than yesterday. I just tried to stay as steady as I could and just tried to find a way to keep carry alive.”

            John Gould (Richmond, Calif.) finished second with 3,606 while 2007-08 Denny’s PBA Tour exempt player Jason Wojnar (Chicago) finished third with 3,579.  Saturday’s leader Thomas Smallwood (Saginaw, Mich.) dropped to fourth with 3,565 while Brad Snell (Mount Prospect, Ill.) rounded out the top five with 3,536.

             Ronnie Horton (Christiansburg, Va.) earned the final spot in match play, finishing 64th with 3,248, one pin ahead of Tim Kelly (Orland Park, Ill.).