CENTREVILLE, Va. – In his 2020 PBA Playoffs debut, Francois Lavoie’s ball reaction looked unbeatable. Turns out, it’s not just unbeatable, it’s perfect.

After taking down legend Norm Duke, 256-193, Lavoie put up a perfect game against Sean Rash in the Round of 16, winning the match 300-236 at Bowlero Centreville.

Performing like a machine, Lavoie fired strike after strike, while Rash only struck one in the first five frames as the No. 9 seed Lavoie advanced to take on No. 1 seed Jason Belmonte.

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Lavoie said part of the magic he has found so far has been the fact that he hasn’t had to bowl on the fresh, following other matches where players threw urethane both times. It led to a perfect outcome.

“I think it was a happy coincidence me bowling on the second matches, not bowling on the fresh,” Lavoie said in an interview with FloBowling. “Having other people break the lane down. Tommy (Jones) and Jason (Belmonte), they both threw urethane. They were giving us a little bit of hold and stretching the pattern a little bit.”

While Lavoie has been able to take advantage of bowling on the burn in his first two matches, that won’t be the case against Belmonte. That match will be bowled on fresh, so time will tell if Lavoie’s ball reaction looks as good in the quarterfinals.

Belmonte advanced to face Lavoie by defeating Jakob Butturff, 205-196, in the first match of the show.

Belmonte’s ball reaction looked a little suspect as he tried to slow hook urethane as he only struck one time in the first five frames. A key three-bagger in frames six, seven and eight helped him pull away, however.

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The other two matches on the show weren’t especially close as Anthony Simonsen ran over Dick Allen, 258-204, and defending champion Kris Prather had little trouble defeating Marshall Kent, 237-214. Simonsen and Prather will meet in the quarterfinals.

The PBA Playoffs broadcasts will continue on Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. Eastern on FS1 (United States) and FloBowling (international) with the second Round of 24 show.