Saturday Round-up in Round Rock
By Brayden Glad
NCTTA Media Committee
The early rounds of the Co-ed and Women’s championship knockout stage mostly held to form, with the biggest surprise being the story of #17 UNC-Charlotte, who advanced to the round of 8 in their debut at Nationals through an upset of a shorthanded #13 Michigan team. #4 Northwestern continued its disappointing run at the tournament by falling to #6 California 3-1 in the round of 12. #5 USC ended cross-town rival #22 UCLA’s Cinderella run with a comprehensive 3-1 victory in the Round of 12, and #7 Texas dispatched #15 UC-Irvine by the same score.
In the Co-ed round of 8, UNC-Charlotte’s excellent run finally came to end as they fell to #8 Washington 3-1, while Indiana handled USC 3-1 and NYU swept Texas 3-0. The highlight of the round was #6 California’s battle with #3 Texas Wesleyan, which went to a doubles decider that Texas Wesleyan won comfortably.
An interesting thing to note about the previous two team’s doubles lineup were the clash of styles: Angela Guan of California chopping with long pips, fellow Golden Bear Nikhil Kumar with regular smooth rubber on both sides, along Zhen Deng of Texas Wesleyan with pips on the backhand for controlled blocking and her J-pen paddling teammate Eduardo Tomoike, which only enables play with one side of the racquet.
Semifinal Action
The Women’s semifinals proceeded briskly, with #2 California sweeping #5 Texas while #1 Texas Wesleyan defeated #3 MIT 3-1. The Co-ed semifinals had #2 NYU complete a comprehensive 3-0 victory over #8 Washington, while the #1 Indiana- #3 Texas Wesleyan matchup brought some drama.
Indiana’s Star brothers Sharon (2681) and Gal Alguetti (2623), undefeated in the tournament and winners of yesterday’s doubles event, were sent to team doubles for the first time all tournament when their compatriots were unable to come through in singles. They took on the team of Zhen Deng (2485) and Edwardo Tomoike (2454) and defeated them in straight sets to advance to the final.
Photo Credit to Dennis Yanga
About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org
About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org