Collegiate Championships

2013 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
TABLE TENNIS
IN THE
COLLEGE
RANKS
NCTTA Championships . . . . . . 15
Texas Wesleyan University . . . . 22
University of Missouri
Rutgers University
. . . . . . 24
. . . . . . . . 25
NYU’s Michael Landers
. . . . . 26
High School Championships . . . 27
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USA TABLE TENNIS MAGAZINE • May/Jun 2013
by Kagin Lee
On April 12th, 230 athletes from 50 colleges and universities in the US
and Canada converged on Rockford, Illinois to compete in the NCTTA
College Table Tennis Championships. The competition took place on
40,000 square feet of indoor tennis court at the Forest City Tennis Center
with 18 fully outfitted and umpired courts, plus 16 practice tables in a
separate area. The matte green floor and walls, indirect lighting, and
equipment furnished by sponsors Butterfly and Newgy made for the best
tournament environment in college table tennis history.
On top of this was the fact that all college competition is team competition.
Even in singles events, almost every player was supported by a camp of
teammates - all in team uniform, by regulation - for coaching or at least
vocal support. With a high ratio of female players, every tournament
player immediately recognized that this was not a typical table tennis
tournament.
Completing the tournament package was meals provided for all players,
an awards banquet, live streaming and commentary, and the crew of
volunteers who performed all duties including results, field of play control,
practice area management, officiating, announcing, press, hospitality,
etc. “My favorite tournament” and “The coolest and most enjoyable
tournament” are quotes that can be attributed to many players.
Divisional and Regional Play
The road to qualifying for this tournament has its own series of recap
articles, partially covered in the monthly NCTTA newsletter. Every coed
and women’s team played in regular season divisional competition, with
the best making it to regional qualifying competitions. Similarly, singles
players wanting to qualify for nationals had to battle through divisional
and regional qualifiers.
Play throughout the 28 NCTTA divisions varied widely in level, as
newly-formed college teams would compete against national powerhouse
teams. Despite the difference in level, players relished the opportunity for
competition, happily driving for hours in the company of their teammates.
In the NYC division, Columbia and NYU coed teams split their two
contests and the divisional winner had to be decided by points. NYU came
out on top by a margin of 273-269.
Divisional winners and select wild-card teams were invited to one of
six regional tournaments, where the drama was brought to the next level.
Bolstered by freshman and 2012 US team member Grant Li, USC
was looking to improve on last year’s results when they finished 8th at
nationals. They were off to a good start at the West regional tournament,
overcoming San Jose State to finish first in coed competition. The Cal
(Berkeley) women were also strong with an impressively deep roster of
Jasmine Nguyen, Sylvan Guo, Tammy Gu, and Jessica Lee; the California
girls also formed the heart of the Cal coed roster. It was not a huge surprise
that they Won the West, and some considered them to be national title
favorites.
Also competing at the West regional tournament was Jiaqi Zheng:
defending college national champion, recently ranked #79 in the world,
and 2011 US Open runner-up. She entered as a lone gun with no
Northwest Polytechnic teammates at her side, but she was considered the
best collegiate woman in the country, and perhaps even the best collegiate
player, man or woman. But her tournament was spoiled by UC San
Diego’s Brana Vlasic, as Brana became the West regional champion in the
upset of the tournament. Brana had previously shown her ability to raise
her level of play when she upset #2 Sara Hazinski in the quarters of the
2012 College Nationals. Despite coming in second, Jiaqi still qualified for
the national championships.
That same weekend in New Orleans, a rematch of last year’s national
championship contest was taking place as defending coed champion
Texas Wesleyan faced national runner-up Mississippi College in the South
regional tournament. It came down to the deciding doubles match when
Mississippi College was finally able to overcome Texas Wesleyan in their
first coed defeat in living memory. Was a shift in power taking place, or
was this a mere hiccup along the way for Texas Wesleyan?
The Texas Wesleyan women were able to recover the South regional
team title, which they had lost to Texas (Austin) in 2012.
Other regional winners were Lindenwood coed and women in the
Midwest region; Ottawa coed and women in the Great Lakes region;
NYU coed and women in the Northeast region; and the Penn women and
Maryland coed teams in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Mississippi College’s Cheng Li. Photo by Mike Hillard.
Doubles
The National Championships kicked off with singles qualifying groups
and the doubles competition. In a way, the doubles tournament was
a preview of the team competition as many of the doubles pairs would
later compete as a pair in team competition, and sometimes play the same
opponents they faced in the doubles draw. The top men’s seeds were
Cheng Li and Zhiqiao Xie of Mississippi College, the same duo which did
in Texas Wesleyan at the South regional tournament. On the other half of
the draw was the top pairing from Texas Wesleyan, Emil Santos and Jose
Barbosa. Wesleyan fielded two other strong pairs: Yahao Zhang/Razvan
Cretu and Zhedi Bai/Roberto Torres.
It was the #2 lefty-righty pairing from Wesleyan that prevailed in a
dramatic match against the strong Mississippi College pair in the semis;
perhaps TWU needed to reconsider their lineups when they got to the
team competition? Texas Wesleyan was in the men’s doubles final, but
not with their top pairing. Santos/Barbosa would fall in the quarters to
the Lindenwood pair of Fernando Yamazato and newcomer Patricio
Pereyra, an inauspicious start for them to lose to the mobility-challenged
Yamazato. USC’s #4 seeded Grant Li and Justin Huang would take out the
other Wesleyan pair in the remaining quarter, and proceed to the final with
their win over Lindenwood’s Yamazato/Pereyra.
In the final, USC’s penhold pair of Li and Huang prevailed in a somewhat
anticlimactic match over Zhang and Cretu. This would give USC a mental
edge through the remainder of the singles and team competition.
Surprisingly, Sara Hazinski had never won a women’s doubles title in
three years of collegiate play. As a freshman in 2010, she and Tina Chen
lost in the final to Lindenwood’s Brazilian pairing of Livia Mizobuchi
and Karin Fukushima. In 2011, she paired with Ines Perhoc (the future
Mrs. Yahao Zhang) but again lost in the final, this time to Lindenwood’s
Karin Fukushima and Leine Agata. In 2012, Hazinski and Kristen Thorn
lost in the semis to Vivien Zhou and Pei Pei Zheng of Toronto. Sara had
won women’s singles, mixed doubles, and been on women’s and coed
championship teams; this was the only collegiate title she was missing.
But this year she had her own Brazilian teammate, Claudia Ikeizumi.
Defending champions Zhou and Zheng of Toronto were absent, but
2011 champions/2012 runners-up Fukushima and Agata were there to try
to recover the title. Also in the mix were former USATT junior players
Sylvan Guo and Jasmine Nguyen (California), Canadian team members
Sara and Stephanie Yuen (Ottawa), and newcomers Rongge Zhang and
Celina Kacperski (Western Ontario).
Hazinski and Ikeizumi were the top seed by ratings, but the doubles
intangibles were held by their opponents: The Lindenwood girls have
played doubles for three years with much success, and the Yuen sisters
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15
USC’s Grant Li. Photo by Mike Hillard.
even longer. The Ottawa girls also had the advantageous lefty-righty
pairing, made frustrating by medium pips on both of their backhands.
California’s Guo and Nguyen got past Western Ontario in the quarters
but were stopped by Wesleyan in the semis. The Wesleyan pair lost their
first game of the tournament to the spirited NYU pair of Sandra Go and
Siyang Yu, but was otherwise able to cruise through to the final. In the
other half of the draw, Ottawa’s Yuen sisters came back from down 0-2
against Lindenwood in the semis to even at 2-2, and proceeded to win the
match to make the finals.
Against Texas Wesleyan in the final, Ottawa once again found
themselves down 0-2, and were again able to come back to 2-2. Did their
energy-saving poker-faced attitude provide an advantage in the long run?
However Hazinski and Ikeizumi were able to regain their composure and
win the title for Wesleyan.
Men’s Singles
The men’s singles field was deeper than ever. Rookie players included
former US National Champions #7 Peter Li (California) and #1 Michael
Landers (NYU); 2012 US national team member #8 Grant Li (USC);
and international students #5 Emil Santos (Texas Wesleyan) and #2
Cheng Li (Mississippi College). One notable fact was that Santos’ ITTF
world ranking was higher than other men’s. All of these freshmen were
considered title contenders, and will probably be fighting for this title in
years to come.
Defending champion Fernando Yamazato (Lindenwood) was the #3 seed
in this tournament, but was also recovering from some ice skating fun
which resulted in a broken ankle. He was still able to play - he and Patricio
Pereyra managed to win a game in the doubles semifinals against eventual
champion USC - but he would be unable to use his full arsenal of shots
in this tournament as he fell to #15 Ahmed Hendawi (2325) of College of
the Desert.
Of the 2012 contenders, Yang Yu (Mississippi College) did not enter
the singles competition, and Venkat Ramesh (Lindenwood) was taking a
break from the sport. Jose Barbosa (Texas Wesleyan) was the only player
among last year’s semifinalists who seemed to be a title threat; he was
seeded ninth.
Sophomore penholder #6 seed Zhedi Bai (Texas Wesleyan) had yet to
make his mark in college table tennis, but was highly regarded by his team
managers. Junior #4 seed Yahao Zhang, member of the 2013 US team,
had won two collegiate doubles titles and been a member of championship
teams, but had never made it past the quarterfinals at the college nationals.
Possible spoilers included fiery #10 seed Truong Tu (San Jose State),
smooth lefty #11 Razvan Cretu (Texas Wesleyan), #12 Zhiqiao Xie
(Mississippi College), freshman #13 Mark Croitoroo (Columbia), and
veteran #14 Joe Cochran (Indiana Tech).
The men’s field was deep, but there was still noticeable stratification
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USA TABLE TENNIS MAGAZINE • May/Jun 2013
as the top 16 seeds all made it to their expected positions in the round of
16. There were two upsets in the following round: Hendawi’s win over
Yamazato, and the big one: top seed Michael Landers was toppled by
Mississippi College’s #12 seed Zhiqiao Xie. Landers seemed to struggle
not just in this match but in previous matches as well. He had suffered a
couple heartbreaking doubles losses in the team competition, and perhaps
this had an effect on his play. Or was Mississippi College simply rising to
the occasion?
Xie’s road would end in the next round as he fell to Zhedi Bai. Bai had
beaten Truong Tu in the previous round and looked solid and composed.
Peter Li also advanced to the semis in a power win over Yahao Zhang at
deuce in the fifth, a minor upset by the #7 seed over the #4 seed.
The big upset of this round would take place with USC’s #8 Grant
Li’s 3-2 win over #2 Cheng Li (Mississippi College). Cheng Li is not
a well known player in the US, but many on site regarded him as the
unofficial top seed of the tournament. Not the smoothest player, but well
controlled and technically strong, at times he looked dominant against
Grant Li. However Grant seemed to have an advantage in both physical
and emotional endurance.
And with that win, the top 4 seeds were out of the tournament.
Texas Wesleyan’s Zhedi Bai is a two-winged penholder, but like his
semifinal opponent Peter Li, he favors his forehand. The big contrast
between the two is that Zhedi always seems well controlled and within
himself, while Peter is long-limbed and loose. In the first two games Peter
was a little too loose as Zhedi ran away with the first two games. In a tight
third game Peter was able to bring his power to bear and win in deuce, and
in the fourth Zhedi looked rattled as he struggled to get 4 points. Zhedi
recovered his composure in the fifth and seemed to tie Peter up, but in the
next game Peter seemed to find another gear, again throwing Zhedi off as
Zhedi lost the sixth game on these green tennis courts by serving a tennis
serve directly onto Peter’s court.
In the seventh both Peter and Zhedi started strong, but Zhedi again had
control, up 5-2 at the changeover. Peter recovered to lead 6-5 before time
out was called, and continued to extend his lead to 8-5, then 9-6. Zhedi
found his control once again to even at 9-9, but Peter had the serve and
the final time out, which he used. Whatever the plan, Zhedi was up to the
challenge; he won the seventh game 12-10.
The other semifinal featured another two-winged penholder in USC’s
Grant Li, and another shakehander in Emil Santos. He was also another
Texas Wesleyan player; the final would be either an all-penhold match
or an all-Texas Wesleyan match. Like Zhedi Bai, Emil seems to play
within himself at all times. An international student from the Dominican
Republic, many consider him to be the anchor of the deep Texas Wesleyan
lineup. Grant is better known in the US from junior play, and while he isn’t
an imposing physical presence at the table, he can show surprising power
to accompany his ball handling. This match was tight most of the time, but
Emil seemed to hold a slight advantage throughout and won the match 4-2.
The all-Wesleyan men’s final was not an exhibition match, but it also
wasn’t a long, drawn out affair. In front of a smaller crowd than before, a
spirited Emil Santos beat his more subdued teammate in straight games to
win his first national singles title. Wesleyan head coach Jasna Rather was
thrilled for both of her players. Of Santos, she said “He is a great addition
to our team, and not only because he is a great athlete, but his attitude in
life is very inspiring to others.”
Women’s Singles
In women’s singles, defending champion Jiaqi Zheng (Northwestern
Polytechnic) was once again the top seed. Now listed with USA next to her
name in the ITTF database, she was not only trying to win the collegiate
title here, she’s also working on US citizenship so she can represent the
US at the world championships.
#2 seed and 2009 champion Judy Hugh (Rutgers) was returning from a
break in collegiate competition. #3 seed Sara Hazinski (Texas Wesleyan)
would be trying for her third collegiate singles title in her final year of
eligibility; she won this tournament in 2010 and 2011.
UC San Diego’s #4 Brana Vlasic had shown her ability to rise to the
occasion, with last season’s win over Sara Hazinski at the Plano collegiate
nationals, and her win over Jiaqi Zheng this spring at the West regionals.
A graduating senior, her opponents saw her as a dangerous player in the
draw.
#6 Karin Fukushima, the anchor of the Lindenwood team, was also
looking at her final chance at the singles title. She had won two women’s
doubles titles and her Lindenwood team was the defending women’s team,
but the closest she had come to the singles title was last year when she
placed second.
Other top players included penholder Tao Li (VCU), long pip blocker
Pamela Song (Wisconsin), Brazilian Claudia Ikeizumi (Texas Wesleyan),
newcomer and relative unknown Rongge Zhang (Western Ontario), and
former Singapore team member Kangkang Huang (Tulane).
As with the men, the top tier of women’s players seemed to be slightly
- but clearly - better than the second tier, as the top 8 seeds all advanced
to the quarterfinals. Despite having a rough start in the beginning of the
tournament, freshman #8 seed Rongge Zhang (Western Ontario) showed
that she was for real as she beat USATT rated 2249 Quanying “Sally” Su
(San Jose State) in the 8ths.
The depth of the top 8 was shown in the quarters where the first matchup
was a rematch of the 2012 finals: #1 Jiaqi Zheng (Northwest Polytechnic)
vs #6 Karin Fukushima (Lindenwood). Jiaqi’s play was not flawless, but
good enough to win in straight games and advance to the semis against
Sara Hazinski.
On the other half of the draw, #2 seed Judy Hugh (Rutgers) battled into
the fifth against lefty #7 Kangkang Huang (Tulane). As an international
player for Singapore, Huang had wins over world class players such as
Georgina Pota, Zhenqi Barthel, and Shen Yanfei. Was she a ringer as the
seventh seed in this tournament? Kangkang had a match point in the fifth,
but Judy finished on top at deuce.
With all 4 top seeds reaching the semis, Judy’s semifinal opponent
was #4 seed Brana Vlasic (UC San Diego). Like Judy, Brana won her
quarterfinal match at deuce in the fifth, against VCU’s #5 seed Tao Li.
Judy was favored in this match not only by seeding, but by historical
results: Judy was undefeated in lifetime play against Brana, 4-0.
However Brana also had the ability to come through in important
matches, as she had previously shown against the other two semifinalists,
Jiaqi Zheng and Sara Hazinski. Was this her chance to break through with
a win against Judy?
Both players seemed uncomfortable with each other in the first couple of
games, but this might have been Brana’s game plan as she started up 2-0 in
games. The looping rallies started coming in the third game, and both the
third and fourth games were close. Up 3-1 in games, Brana ran away with
the fifth game to complete the upset and advance to the final.
The other semifinal featured the speed and precision of Jiaqi Zheng
against the tight control of Sara Hazinski. The players knew each other
well enough, having played each other many times when Sara was living
in northern California, but Jiaqi held the edge in head-to-head matchups.
Jiaqi came out fast in this match, winning the first two games and up
7-2 in the third before Sara called time out. Sara came back a bit more
aggressive, but Jiaqi continued to roll and won the game 11-5. However
Sara continued her more aggressive approach in the fourth game and took
a quick 8-2 lead, eventually claiming that game 11-6.
Jiaqi stayed loose in the fifth and was up 8-3 but lost the handle of it as
Sara was able to battle back to down 8-9 before time out was called by
Jiaqi. More aggression from Sara gave her yet another game, 12-10. Jiaqi
lost some of her looseness in the sixth and the game was tight until the
end when Sara pulled ahead, 11-7. Sara had just won three straight games
to even the match at 3-3, yet in the break between games Jiaqi and coach
Truong Tu had little to say as she rushed back to the court.
The seventh was intense and tight to the end. Both players were more
spirited, more aggressive, and more vocal than before. Jiaqi was up 5-4 at
the changeover, but Sara stayed with her. At 10-10 Sara was wrong footed
by Jiaqi’s drop to her wide forehand, and slipped and went down - one of
the few times this happened in the entire tournament on the grippy floor.
And just like that it was over, as Sara failed to loop the next serve. This
was one of the most dramatic women’s semifinals seen in some time.
The final between Jiaqi Zheng and Brana Vlasic was a rematch of the
West regional final, when Brana pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the
year, coming back from down 0-2 in games to win. Could she repeat that
performance here?
Perhaps Jiaqi had revenge on her mind. Brana had the crowd with her and
she could match Jiaqi in backhand exchanges, but not in forehand ferocity
or overall table control. Jiaqi Zheng successfully defended her women’s
singles title in straight games, though Brana could not be disappointed
with her second place showing.
Women’s Teams
The team competition was what most players came for. It’s the heart of
college play and in general, table tennis play in most countries. Teammates
Texas Wesleyan’s Emil Santos. Photo by Mike Hillard.
are easily identified by their uniforms but also by their interaction, training
together and supporting each other. One top player can make a team
stronger, but not carry a team; that top player can do more for their team
by helping raise their teammates’ level than by merely winning matches.
The collegiate team format involves 4 singles and one doubles match
in each team contest. Each player plays one singles match, and then the
doubles match, if necessary, is composed of the player who played the
first singles match plus any other player on the roster. A team can have
up to 8 players on their roster - the strong teams tend to have the full 8 and the team can choose which players to field in any given contest. The
players can also be in any order, meaning the strongest player can play
last; however the player order is declared once for the tournament and
published for everyone to see, and can’t be changed.
Many-time national champion Texas Wesleyan’s women’s team was
a title threat as always. Their 2012 fourth place finish may have been a
disappointment for them; this year they were the #3 seeded team with
a strong one-two punch in senior Sara Hazinski and newcomer Claudia
Ikeizumi. Wesleyan leaned heavily on their top two as they won their
qualifying group the long way: by winning every contest in the final
doubles match.
Defending champion Lindenwood was a surprising #9 seed this year.
No college table tennis team is constant; players graduate and thus
Lindenwood’s 2012-winning lineup of 3 players over 2000 suffered due
to the departure of Michelle John. However they still won the Midwest
region and were expected to finish higher than their seeding, given the
strength of their top two players: Karin Fukushima and Leine Agata.
Despite not being seeded into the championship knockout bracket, they
were still able to finish first in their qualifying group.
The last six women’s championships were won four times by Texas
Wesleyan and twice by Lindenwood. But who were the top two seeds
this year? Last year’s runner-up Toronto was absent from the competition
at Rockford. Up and coming Mississippi College still did not have a
women’s team.
The top seed was Cal (Berkeley) who didn’t even field a women’s team
last year, as team member Sylvan Guo directed the NCTTA Northern
California division in 2012. This year they fielded a deep team featuring
three former USATT junior players in Guo, Jasmine Nguyen, and Tammy
Gu. Graduate student Jessica Lee rounded out their team, which went
through their qualifying group with just one match loss, against Texas
(Austin).
The #2 seeded Ottawa team that played in the league was, on paper,
nearly as strong as California. The Yuen sisters would be favored against
almost anyone in doubles, and were formidable in singles as well. They
were accompanied by a third 2000+ player in Shannon Zheng, whose older
sister Pei Pei was a member of the 2012 runner-up Toronto women’s team.
However they arrived at this tournament with a severe disadvantage: their
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17
against Judy Hugh’s Rutgers team. In the final quarter, NYU was able
to use their 7-girl roster to their advantage, preventing Lindenwood from
bringing their strong doubles pairing to bear in a 3-1 win. Lindenwood
would finish a disappointing 7th place in this tournament.
In the semis, Ottawa’s top-three firepower was once again able to through
3-0 over Cornell, and Texas Wesleyan was extended to doubles for their
fifth straight time, this time against NYU. But the Wesleyan doubles pair
had already beaten NYU in women’s doubles, and they repeated that
performance here with a 3-1 victory over Siyang Yu and Sandra Go.
The NYU pair of Yu and Go would finish the tournament on a high note,
winning in doubles in the 3rd place match against Cornell.
The final was over quickly; the shorthanded Ottawa team was unable to
overcome their three-woman handicap as Sara Hazinski beat Sara Yuen in
the first singles match. How would things have been different if Ottawa’s
fourth player had made it? Would they have won their group and not
knocked out top seed Cal in the first round? Nevertheless, Texas Wesleyan
was able to do what California couldn’t: win a match against Ottawa. This
was Texas Wesleyan’s fifth women’s team title in seven years, with the
emphasis on team: “I really wanted to win this with Sara because I knew
how much it means to her and to Jasna,” said Claudia Ikeizumi.
Northwestern Polytechnic’s Jiaqi Zheng. Photo by Mike Hillard.
fourth player had failed to make the trip, leaving them with an incomplete
three-woman team. They would be permitted to play, but with penalties
for being short a player: Not only would they default their fourth singles
match, but they would also automatically default the doubles match – they
could not afford to lose one singles match in a contest.
This penalty hurt them right away in group play, as they were upset by
Lindenwood 3-1. Ottawa managed to hold off Brana Vlasic-led UCSD
(who was also shorthanded) and a determined new team from Alabama;
placing second in their group was enough for Ottawa to qualify for the
championship knockout bracket, but this meant they would be drawn
against one of the top seeds in the first round.
Western Ontario won the consolation bracket in 2012 to finish the year
in 7th place, and as the #4 seed this year was looking to improve on that.
They had two strong new players on their roster: 17 year old freshman ace
Rongge Zhang and all-smiles grad student Celina Kacperski.
High hopes, but Western had a shaky start in the early going against #12
Minnesota. With a balanced team, and their highest rated player being
1463 Jia Hwei Cheong, Minnesota extended the contest to 2-2 and the
final doubles match, where Western Ontario’s top two were expected to
dominate. But in a big surprise, Minnesota toppled the giants and was, for
the moment, at the top of group standings.
The other team in this qualifying group, #6 seed NYU, was both balanced
and deep - the only team in the field with a 7-woman roster, led by Sandra
Go (USATT rated 2139). Western Ontario would need a win against them
in order to make it to the championship bracket. Perhaps showing some
nerves, Western also lost this contest, not even making it to doubles in a
3-1 loss.
And in yet another surprise Minnesota closed out the group undefeated
as they beat NYU, once again in doubles. Minnesota would go into the
knockout round with their head in the clouds, inheriting Western Ontario’s
#4 seed.
Rounding out the top teams was #5 seed Cornell, another balanced
team of four in a tournament which, in recent history, seemed to favor
imbalanced women’s teams.
The effect of #2 Ottawa’s missing player and subsequent early loss
manifested in the knockout draw, where they found themselves facing
top seeded California in the first round. But it was Cal who would more
severely feel the effects of this as they were suddenly down: Sara Yuen
beat Jasmine Nguyen, Stephanie Yuen defeated Sylvan Guo, and Shannon
Zheng won against Tammy Gu. California, which had been near-perfect
up to this point, was suddenly out of title contention. The best finish they
could achieve was fifth - which they later did.
Cornell would get the lucky draw against Minnesota and proceed to
blank them 3-0. Minnesota would not recover their preliminary group
form as they finished in 8th place. Also winning in the first round was
Texas Wesleyan who was extended to doubles once again, this time
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USA TABLE TENNIS MAGAZINE • May/Jun 2013
Coed Teams
Mississippi College and Texas Wesleyan could have been considered
co-#1 seeds in this tournament. Texas Wesleyan was the nine-time
defending champion and had a deeper 8-person lineup, but Mississippi
College was coming off a win over Texas Wesleyan in the South regional
tournament. In college football rankings this would have been enough to
put Mississippi College at #1. But for practical purposes there’s almost no
difference between #1 and #2 in seeding.
Texas Wesleyan coach Jasna Rather knew her team would be in for
a battle. “We have a great Co-Ed team, but that does not guarantee the
National Team title. Our team same as always will fight hard. Like all
others, we are looking forward to see ending results and which team will
take the 2013 National Co-Ed team title.”
In normal circumstances, #3 seed Lindenwood would have to be
considered a serious title threat. But with top player and 2012 singles
champion Fernando Yamazato still restricted by injury, they would
need very strong performances from freshmen Patricio Pereyra, Gabriel
Skolnick, and Austin Preiss. #5 San Jose State fielded a veteran team
which finished fourth in Plano last year. Sri Lankan fourth player Joseph
Coorey was noticeably improved from last year, and they were looking to
make their mark.
A number of strong young teams came in with high hopes. #4 USC, #6
California, #8 Columbia, and #10 NYU featured former USATT junior
players in a strong freshman class: Grant Li, Peter Li, Mark Croitoroo, and
Michael Landers respectively. In particular, NYU had won the Northeast
regional tournament over higher-rated Columbia and Rutgers, and were
eager to prove themselves on the national stage.
Other top teams included #7 Ottawa, which was made up of the same trio
of players as the runner-up Ottawa women’s team plus Briant Won; and #9
Rutgers, led once again by Judy Hugh.
Another team largely composed of women was Sylvan Guo’s California
team, but having Peter Li on the coed team made them considerably
stronger. Their preliminary group included the Ottawa girls, which
resulted in a win for Cal; however both teams won against #18 Florida and
#19 Georgia tech, and they both moved on to the championship bracket.
Newcomer Tulane came in seeded #22, looking to play spoiler as started
against Columbia. Kangkang Huang’s team was unable to come through
in this contest, but later topped Buffalo in group play to move to the top
consolation bracket.
Also making the championships for the first time was USF (South
Florida), coming in as the #15 seed and looking to make some noise,
figuratively speaking; they were already capable of doing that literally, as
perhaps the loudest squad in the tournament. “No doubt you will hear me
and my teammates a mile away as we are here to shake things up, make
some noise and bring down the house,” said USF player Dave Llona.
The “group of death” in the qualifying round included Lindenwood,
NYU, USF, and #20 VCU (Virginia Commonwealth) led by Chinese
penholder Tao Li. Lindenwood was the clear favorite in the group and
advanced to the championship bracket with little drama. NYU faced VCU
in the first round and in a shocking upset, VCU was able to win in the final
doubles over Michael Landers’ team.
With the win over NYU, VCU merely needed to beat USF to place
second in the group and advance to the championship round. But USF,
sending out the surprise doubles team of Ciprian Romonti and Mathew
Delgado, won the contest to put them in the driver’s seat.
The final qualifying matchup between USF and NYU again went to
doubles, and a three-way tie was looming. USF used their expected
doubles pair of Romonti and Dave Llona with success, giving NYU its
third group defeat and pushing them to the consolation rounds. NYU
would win their remaining contests in the second consolation bracket and
finish a disappointing 19th place. VCU’s win over NYU in group play put
them in the top consolation bracket where they continued to perform well,
eventually finishing in 14th place.
Also advancing to the championship round was #12 Western Ontario and
#14 Maryland, who upset a veteran #11 Princeton team in the deciding
doubles.
There were no upsets in the first round of the knockout stage, as Ottawa
defeated Maryland, San Jose State beat Rutgers, Columbia won against
Western Ontario, and California managed to get past USF. California
looked listless in their contest against South Florida; Ciprian Romonti had
three game points in an attempt to push Peter Li to the fifth, and fourth
player Michel Avey (USATT rated 1741) defeated Sylvan Guo in a big
upset to bring the contest to doubles. The pair of Romonti and Llona took
the first game in doubles against Li and Guo, but Cal was able to right the
ship to complete the match 3-1 and move the Cal Bears to the quarters.
But with California opting to default against their friends at USC in
the next round, and Texas Wesleyan and Mississippi College sweeping
their opponents Ottawa and Columbia respectively, the big matchup in
the quarterfinals was Lindenwood versus San Jose State. These two teams
had faced each other last year in the match for third place. This year San
Jose State had the same lineup as last year with Truong Tu, Joseph Coorey,
Sean Lee, and Quanying “Sally” Su; Lindenwood used a three-freshman
lineup of Patricio Pereyra, Gabriel Skolnick, senior Fernando Yamazato,
and Austin Preiss.
Pereyra pushed San Jose State ace Truong Tu to the fifth, but Tu was
able to deliver the match his team was counting on. Likewise Skolnick
defeated Coorey to even the contest, and then Lee beat a skilled but
hampered Yamazato to give SJSU a 2-1 lead. Sally Su tried to close things
out against Austin Preiss but lost 11-9 in the fifth. Pereyra and Yamazato
were once again the doubles pair sent out, and they started off well against
the favored pair of Tu and Lee. However San Jose State eventually won
in the fifth game. Lindenwood would finish the tournament in fifth place
over Columbia.
San Jose State was be hard pressed to win a game against the strong
Texas Wesleyan team, and lost that semifinal 3-0. Mississippi College
advanced to the finals with a 3-1 win over USC. USC’s Ping Pong Posse
team had beaten San Jose State in the West regional qualifier, and they
repeated that performance here to finish in third place. They’re expected
to be a force in college table tennis for years to come.
The final was what Mississippi College coach Ken Qiu had been planning
and hoping for. “TWU is still the best in the game and I am hoping that
we still can meet them in the Nationals and give a good game to all the
audience.”
Men’s singles champion Emil Santos was up first for Texas Wesleyan,
facing his nemesis Cheng Li of Mississippi College. In the South regional
qualifier, Emil had beaten Cheng in the singles competition, but Cheng
was the victor in the team contest. Since this was a team match, did that
mean Cheng was favored? Fan Zachary Johnston says of Cheng, “He is a
cougar ready to pounce on his prey.” Emil was the one who pounced as he
came out firing and fired up, vocal and animated and clearly working hard
for his team. But his first game lead was calmly erased by Cheng Li and
with aggressive coaching, Mississippi College used a time out up 13-12 in
the first game to good effect. As he started to show a lot more life, Cheng
Li won the first two games in deuce featuring furious counterloops off the
bounce. Emil lowered Cheng’s spirits in the third as he finally won a game,
but down 5-7 Emil was forced to call time out; a brief respite but Cheng
closed out the game 11-7 to win the match 3-1.
Of the 8 players selected to play in the final, Cheng Li was the only one
not involved in last year’s final which Wesleyan won 3-1. Would he be the
difference this year?
Singles runner-up Zhedi Bai (TWU) made quick work of Zhicheng
“Johnson” Liang, arguably the weakest of the Mississippi College quartet.
Yahao Zhang (TWU) was also favored against Zhiqiao Xie (MC), and
came through here.
At last year’s championships, Yang “Sam” Yu was the ace of the team and
Texas Wesleyan. Photo by Mike Hillard.
the MC player who did the most damage to TWU, beating Yahao Zhang
in singles and German pro Andreas Ball in teams. This year his team was
counting on him to win his match and keep his team in the contest at down
2-1. If he could pull it out, the final doubles match would be Emil Santos
and Zhedi Bai vs Cheng Li and Zhiqiao Xie - perhaps a surprise, given that
the pair of Santos and Bai did not play in the men’s doubles event; Santos
played with Barbosa, and Bai was paired with Roberto Torres.
At the South regional contest between TWU and MC, Jose Barbosa lost
in a devastating upset by Zhicheng Liang. Yang Yu also lost in that contest,
to Yahao Zhang. One of these players would find redemption in this final
singles match. It was not the prettiest of the day, as Yang sought to control
play and Jose tried to keep his opponent off balance with surprise flips and
placement. There was some controversy in the match as both benches were
involved, looking for every edge they could find in this critical match; the
players weren’t the only ones jockeying for position.
Barbosa, perhaps the goat in New Orleans last month, was the hero in
Rockford as he won the final match 11-9 in the fifth. Though this was the
tenth straight coed championship for Texas Wesleyan, the competition is
always dramatic and it’s never easy. Their opponents are always gunning
for them and, falling to the court and mobbed by his teammates in this
final, Barbosa shows that Wesleyan does not take winning for granted.
Full results of the 2013 College Table Tennis Championships can be
found at champs.nctta.org and full match video can be found on youtube
by searching for “college table tennis”
Final Team Standings
Women:
1. Texas Wesleyan
2. Ottawa
3. NYU
4. Cornell
5. California
6. Rutgers
7. Lindenwood
8. Minnesota
Coed:
1. Texas Wesleyan
2.Mississippi Col
3. USC
4. San Jose State
4. Lindenwood
6. Columbia
7. Ottawa
8. California
9. Western Ontario
10. Texas
11. Wisconsin
12. Alabama
13. UC San Diego
14. Harvard
9. Rutgers
10. Western Ontario
11. Maryland
12. South Florida
13. Princeton
14. VCU
15. Florida
16. UC San Diego
17. Texas
18. Tulane
19. NYU
20. Georgia Tech
21. Wisconsin
22. Missouri
23. Harvard
24. Buffalo
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