The Blasters on Friday lost to the Princeton Revolution from New Jersey, beat the Carolina Gold Rush on Saturday and wrapped up the weekend with a loss to the Texas Smash. The Smash is the best team in the West Division, and the winners of the league’s inaugural Major League Table Tennis 2023-2024 Cup final.
Zhang, who first competed in the Olympics in 2012 in London when she was 16 years old, began playing table tennis in a laundry room at Stanford growing up, where her father was a professor. She racked up a singles win against Princeton’s Jiangshan Guo on Friday, but later lost matches against the Gold Rush’s Hong Lin and the Smash’s Amy Wang, who is another table tennis Olympian and Zhang’s fellow 2024 Team USA teammate.
The Blasters will be competing again in the Major League Table Tennis tournament in Miami from Feb. 14-16 and from March 21-23 in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
Bay Area Blaster’s Lily Zhang, right, plays against Carolina Gold Rush’s Hong Lin during a Major League Table Tennis match held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2025. About 150 people attended the event. Zhang lost the match to Carolina Gold Rush’s Hong Lin. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) An audience member holds a sign supporting Bay Area Blaster’s Lily Zhang during a Major League Table Tennis match held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2025. About 150 people attended the event. Zhang lost the match to Carolina Gold Rush’s Hong Lin. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) Bay Area Blaster’s Lily Zhang celebrates after winning the first game of a Major League Table Tennis match held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2025. About 150 people attended the event. Zhang lost the match to Carolina Gold Rush’s Hong Lin. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) Bay Area Blaster’s Lily Zhang, right, plays against Carolina Gold Rush’s Hong Lin during a Major League Table Tennis match held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2025. About 150 people attended the event. Zhang lost the match to Carolina Gold Rush’s Hong Lin. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) Bay Area Blaster’s Lily Zhang plays during a Major League Table Tennis match held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2025. About 150 people attended the event. Zhang lost the match to Carolina Gold Rush’s Hong Lin. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) Bay Area Blaster’s Lily Zhang waves during player introductions before competing in a Major League Table Tennis match held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2025. About 150 people attended the event. Zhang lost the match to Carolina Gold Rush’s Hong Lin. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
