Diana Zavjalova at a Glance
PWBA titles: 1, 2015 PWBA Minnesota Open
Other titles: 2013 USBC Queens
Team Latvia: (10 years): Gold medals (singles, Masters) 2014 European Women's Championships; bronze medal (all-events) 2013 WTBA World Championships; silver medal 2012 WTBA World Singles Championships; bronze medals (singles, all-events) 2010 WTBA World Youth Championships; bronze medal (trios) at 2012 European Championships; gold medal (doubles), silver medal (all-events) and bronze medal (Masters) 2008 European Youth Championships.
Collegiate accomplishments: 2014 Intercollegiate Singles Championship winner; member of 2012 Intercollegiate Women's Championship team (Webber International); second team collegiate All-American 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons; National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association Rookie of the Year in 2010-11
No matter what corner of the globe Diana Zavjalova calls home, she is right at home on the lanes.
The Latvia native – who now lives in Beavercreek – edged Rocio Restrepo, of Colombia, 216-208, to win her first professional title at the PWBA Minnesota Open on Aug. 22. She rolled four clutch strikes in the ninth and 10th frames of the championship match and needed every one of them for the win.
“I just had a feeling this was going to be my week and it was,” Zavjalova said. “I feel like I have been so close and to finally break through and win feels great.”
Tournament wins, however, are nothing new for the 24-year-old Latvian who got her start on the lanes at age 10 after watching her dad bowl.
“I was an athletic kid, I played all kinds of sports, but when I had to pick one, it was bowling,” Zavjalova said. “I wanted to be the best bowler in the world.”
Zavjalova competed with and against many of Europe’s best bowlers — mostly men — on the European Tour for several years before moving to Florida to bowl for Webber International University. At Webber, she and her teammates won the 2012 Intercollegiate Team Championship and Zavjalova won the Intercollegiate Singles Championship two years later.
“My experience has definitely helped me on tour,” Zavjalova said.
That experience also helped the eventual champion make a critical adjustment midway through the championship match. Trailing to Restrepo, Zavjalova made a timely ball change.
“I didn’t use that ball all week,” she said. “I was struggling with the transition and I had to figure out a way to strike. So I tried something different and it worked. Go big or go home.”
Home, however, isn’t where Zavjalova — who is now second in the Tour Player of the Year standings to Stefanie Johnson — will be any time soon as she is currently in Detroit on the next tour stop and will next travel to New Jersey for the U.S. Women’s Open. Her Minnesota Open win also ensured her a spot in the season-ending PWBA Tour Championship in Texas Sept. 10-13.
The Miami Valley newcomer wasn’t the only local bowler to fare well at the PWBA Minnesota Open. Shannon Pluhowsky finished ninth and Megan Kelly 16th.
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