Wes Malott (pictured left) of Argyle, Tex. finished atop the leaderboard in Thursday's Qualifying at the Pepsi Viper Championship at Thunder Alley in which the top 32 men advanced to Friday's match play.

Malott, who ended the first 7-game block of qualifying in seventh, was able to remain consistent in his second block with scores of 213, 241, 258, 221, 248, 255 and 236 to finish with a score of 3261, averaging 232.93 over the 14-games.

He bested No. 2 and all-time PBA Title leader Walter Ray Williams Jr. (right) of Ocala, Fla. by 81 pins.

"After last week, I had a fairly poor performance … I have somewhat of a history of lower back pain and I wasn't able to perform to the best of my ability," Malott said. "But this week I feel really good. I also was able to work out some timing issues in my swing and kind of came together with the right ball choices as always."

"Tomorrow is match play, I'll be crossing pairs and I don't have to worry about breaking pairs down," Malott added. "I've been working with my ball rep on some strategies for tomorrow in case the pattern starts to flatten out."

Former Husker Michael Machuga finished third on the day and had a 300 during his first block. Mitch Beasley, who just missed the cut in 34th, also had a 300 in the first block.

Ted Baer, owner of Thunder Alley, received a Commissioner's exemption to compete in the Round of 64 as a result of bidding on an exempt spot in an auction to benefit Bowl for the Cure. Baer finished 61st with 2,650 pins.

Friday’s competition continues 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. with Match Play Round One (9 games) which cuts to the top 16, and Round Two (6-10 p.m.; 9 games) to determine the final four finalists.

The top four finalists will advance to the stepladder match play: No. 4 vs. No. 3, winner vs. No. 2, en route to championship match, aired live on ESPN on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 1pm (all times ET).