The most prestigious mixed doubles event in bowling takes place this weekend when the Storm PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles goes down at Copperfield Bowl in Houston.

The 19th annual event, which will be broadcast live by FloBowling, will feature 160 world-class teams from around the world competing for the coveted title.

Originally known as the Luci Bonneau Memorial Mixed Doubles in honor of the late bowler who died of breast cancer, the event is still referred to today as “The Luci” by many fans and competitors. Today, it still benefits breast cancer research.

Here’s what to look for at the PBA/PWBA Mixed Doubles:

Couples who bowl together, strike together

We recently gave our rankings of the Top 5 teams in the field, which featured three-time winners Bill O’Neill and Shannon O’Keefe in the top spot, but there are 155 other doubles teams in the tournament as well.

Some of those pairings include married or dating couples, including Stefanie and Chris Johnson. Stefanie is one of the top bowlers on the PWBA Tour, while Chris was the PBA Rookie of the Year in the 2003-04 season.

Another pair who are dating to keep an eye on are Diana Zavjalova and Adam Pogge. Zavjalova is a two-time USBC Queens winner, and Pogge recently won his first PBA Regional title.

Beauties vs. Beasts to kick things off

Before the players hit the lanes for the actual tournament, a special event will be held on Thursday at 4 p.m. Central and broadcast live on FloBowling. The Beauties vs. Beasts five-game Baker match will kick things off at Copperfield Bowl.

The match will pay $5,000 to the winning team and $1,000 to the losing team and will pit the top bowlers from last year’s qualifying against each other.

Representing the Beauties will be Birgit Poppler, Stefanie Johnson, Holly Harris, Josie Barnes and Natalie Cortese. On the men’s side, the Beasts will feature Kyle Troup, Tommy Jones, Chris Barnes, Brad Miller and Clint Land.

Lane pattern will be similar to last year

Event organizer Donna Conners tells FloBowling the lane pattern, while not released fully, will be 39 feet long and 26.015 milliliters of oil. They will use Kegel’s Current oil.

The pattern should play similar to last year’s pattern, which was 39 feet with 25.2 milliliters of oil using Kegel’s Ice oil.

What the schedule looks like

The PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles is spread out over three days, beginning Friday and concluding Sunday. Here’s the schedule of events (all times Central):

Friday, July 27

8 a.m. – Squad A qualifying (seven games)

2 p.m. – Squad B qualifying (seven games)

Saturday, July 28

8 a.m. – Squad C qualifying (seven games)

2 p.m. – Squad D qualifying (seven games)

Sunday, July 29

8:30 a.m. – Semifinals qualifying (five games; top 25 percent of field)

12:30 p.m. – Match play finals, round robin (eight games, top eight teams)