Christopher Judd, News Correspondent

Northeastern University graduate student Delia Mocanu finished second in women’s 9-ball at the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) Collegiate Billiards Championship from June 29 to July 1.

Mocanu graduated from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology before earning her master’s degree in physics from Northeastern in January. She is now in the process of earning her doctorate in physics and complex systems from Northeastern.

This year marked Mocanu’s third appearance at the ACUI nationals. She won her first four matches 7-0, 7-3, 7-2 and 7-5 before losing to Michelle Yim of the University of Houston in the best-of-three finals 7-2 and 7-6.

Mocanu finished second and first respectively at the ACUI nationals in her first two appearances in 2010 and 2011. She competed in the ACUI regional tournament from 2008-2010 before earning her first trip to nationals in 2010. The top 10 percent of participants in regionals move on to the national tournament.

Mocanu said there was a direct correlation between when she began taking billiards seriously and when she started seeing results.

“I participated in my first regional tournament in 2008, but the first time I started taking billiards seriously was in 2010,” she said in an email. “Then, in [the summer of] 2010, I went to my first national ACUI tournament.”

The Husky grad student said training has played a large role in her personal improvement.

“I train between eight and 20 hours per week,” Mocanu said. “Eight is what I train [when I’m] on vacation, but I want to train a lot more. … I meet people along the way that teach me a few things.”

Mocanu has qualified for several other tournaments in her career, including the 2012 Women’s Professional Billiards Association U.S. Open, one of the most prestigious international billiards tournaments.