Player Highlight: Jonatan McDonald

By Joel Lidstrom
NCTTA Press Committee Member

Seeing Texas Wesleyan’s Jonatan McDonald warm up with his teammates is a thrilling affair. His power, depth, and consistency, whether from the forehand or backhand, is astonishing. Knowing that he is not the highest seed in the men’s draw speaks eloquently about the extraordinary quality of this tournament.
On Saturday, he faced perhaps an even more premier player in Gal Alguetti, the #3 seed (and #2 doubles seed with his brother, Sharon).

From the outset, McDonald held his own. Was the plan to stay close, in hopes of forcing a 4th and then 5th deciding game? But as the first game progressed, McDonald knew Alguetti was a bit off his normal feed, and took advantage.
Alguetti missed flips, hit errant backhand loops, hit the edge of the racket when he was clearly in position to win the point. MacDonald’s Texas Wesleyan bench erupted ecstatically as he took the first game.

Periodically Alguetti did find his footing, closing the gap and giving his bench hope. But continued errors, and McDonalds incredibly deep and powerful loops out wide, wider, widest, put Alguetti in situations he could not recover from. Game 2 ended exactly that way, with McDonald forcing his opponent into distant and uncomfortable positions.
In Game 3 Alguetti alternated power shots with errors. Down 3-5, he called a time out. It was now or never. The Texas bench looked confident, and had fewer words of strategy than ones of encouragement.

The comeback wasn’t to be. Out of the timeout Alguetti pops up a push, and McDonald puts it away. Then McDonald’s signature shot out wide with the forehand. Alguetti cannot defend it. And again to the same spot, but with the backhand. And now again! McDonald pulls Alguetti deeper and deeper, further and further to his forehand to retrieve, but he cannot.
At match point, McDonald hits a too high service return; Alguetti attacks, clips the top of the net, the ball flies, and the match is done. McDonald wins it, 3-0, helping TWU seal the deal to advance to the Coed Team final, ultimately defeating California for the Championship title.

(Featured in photo is Texas Wesleyan's Jonatan Mcdonald as his teammates cheer him on. Photo credit to Dennis Yanga).

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the
National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The
event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed
Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US
Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live
stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis
Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to
promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org