2001 USA Table Tennis 
National Team Trials
San Diego, California
February 7-11, 2001

Day Four: Saturday, February 10

For much of Saturday, it was thought that Todd Sweeris’ three wins (over Brian Pace, Nison Aronov and Loc Ngo) before he was forced to withdraw due to injury would count. However, on Saturday night, the Elite Athlete and Athlete Development Committee met and voted 7-0 that, based on the rules posted and the instructions given to the players in advance, his matches did not count toward standings (although played matches did count toward rating). Similarly, Whitney Ping’s one played match (a loss to Jasna Reed) did not count toward standings, although in this case it made no difference.

The big match here was Barney J. Reed’s grueling win over Brian Pace, -20,13,16,-16,15. Reed led 17-13 in the first, but Pace won at 20. Pace led 9-6 in the fifth, but was suddenly down 10-13, and then 13-19. This win clinched Reed’s spot on the team.

Tahl Leibovitz continued his last-minute drive, defeating, Lee McCool, -11,19,21,12. Leibovitz’s forehand loop kill against pushes was becoming devastating – it never seems to miss, and it rarely comes back – it’s both extremely fast and you can never tell where it’s going.

Ashu Jain survived a scare from Loc Ngo. Down 2-1 in games, and leading 20-16, Jain barely held on to win at 19, but won the fifth game easily and the match, -17,13,-11,19,6. If he had lost this match, it would have had severe repercussions on the team trials. As it was, Jain was still in the battle for the fifth spot.

In other matches, David Zhuang d. Shashin Shodhan, 12,15,18; and Eric Owens d. Nison Aronov, 10,15,9.

At this point, four of the five spots on the team have been clinched by David Zhuang, Mark Hazinski, Eric Owens and Barney J. Reed. Battling for the fifth spot are Brian Pace (4-3), Ashu Jain (3-4), Nison Aronov (3-5), Shashin Shodhan (3-6) and Tahl Leibovitz (2-5). (Due to the Sweeris matches that do not count, players have different number of matches played.)

Going into this round, Brian Pace led the race for the fifth spot. After his 9,16,13 loss to Eric Owens dropped him to 4-4, he still led, but narrowly.

Ashu Jain had the chance to make up lost ground, but instead he lost to Nison Aronov, 13,14,17. In the third game, down 19-14, Jain had an injury time-out due to the latest injury – an injured shoulder. But it didn’t help in this match. Jain (3-5) was still in the hunt, but this win for Aronov (4-5) put him in sixth place after this round. Throughout this match (and other matches), Aronov continued to lob down opponent after opponent.

Tahl Leibovitz had a difficult match with Loc Ngo, but pulled out each game at the end, 21,-16,18,15, and so stayed in contention at 3-5.

In other matches, David Zhuang d. Barney J. Reed, 19,13,11; and Mark Hazinski d. Lee McCool, 17,10,-19,19.

The biggest match of the round was Brian Pace versus Ashu Jain – especially since, at this time, it was not known that the Sweeris matches wouldn’t count, and so whoever won would simply need to win his final match to clinch his spot. Either way, the winner would be in the driver’s seat in the battle for the final spot on the team. Pace started out well, and went up 2-1 in games. In the fourth, Jain led 20-12 – and suddenly it was 20-19, with Pace serving! But what looked like a short serve that went long gave Jain the loop kill off the serve he needed to win – although Pace almost blocked it back. Match to -17,13,-11,19,11 – one of the most acrobatic of matches between these two physical shotmakers.

In a battle mostly for who would be #3 in the final standings – but one with some of the best counterlooping rallies seen in the U.S. - Eric Owens defeated Barney J. Reed, -19,14,12,16. On counterlooping rally in particular – well, you just had to be there.

Mark Hazinski had long ago clinched his spot on his team – and now seemed under pressure to hold onto the #2 spot on the standings after David Zhuang. In the closest match of the tournament, Hazinski fought off two match points in the fourth game to defeat the crafty Loc Ngo, -20,15,-21,20,19

Shashin Shodhan kept is hopes alive by defeating Lee McCool, -13,15,9,11

Tahl Leibovitz, who had been slowly backing himself into contention, went down three straight to the lobbing and looping Nison Aronov – who was now in strong contention for the team. Tahl had his chances, but Aronov simply got everything back, and efficiently looped in winners when the ball was there in winning 15,15,16.

At this point, with the top four spots taken (David Zhuang, Mark Hazinski, Eric Owens and Barney J. Reed), and one round to go (Sunday morning, 10AM Pacific Time), the battle for the fifth spot remains wide open, especially with Todd Sweeris’ matches not counting. The contenders are:

Here is a rundown of the possibilities for the final spot on the U.S. Team – with the final round coming up Sunday morning at 10AM Pacific time.

Pace defeated Aronov; Aronov defeated Jain; and Jain defeated Pace. These are the strongest contenders for the team.

If all three win, there would be a three-way tie, and Aronov would win in the tie-breaker with a game record of 4-3. Pace would be second at 5-4; Jain third at 3-5.

If any two of them win, and the other lost, then the one who won between the two winners would make the team.

If only one of these three wins, then the one who wins would make the team.

If all three lose (with Leibovitz thereby defeating Pace), and Shodhan loses to Ngo, then there would be a four-way tie among Pace, Jain, Aronov and Leibovitz.

If all three lose (with Leibovitz thereby defeating Pace), and Shodhan defeats Ngo, then there would be a five-way tie!

Going into the round, Chang Jun Gao and Jasna Reed had clinched their spots on the team. Tawny Banh had nearly clinched it – only a far-fetched set of scenarios would keep her off the team. Virginia Sung was also almost sure to make the team.

Gao, despite her shoulder problems, had no trouble with chopper Virginia Sung, 11,8,8, playing a mostly steady rolling game and smashing only occasionally.

Lily Yip, in her last-ditch effort to make the team, went up 2-1 in games against Tawny Banh – scoring seven in a row at 14-all in the third. Banh ran away with the fourth game, and at 8-all in the fifth, pulled away to 15-9 in winning the match, -17,16,-14,14,14.

In other matches, Jasna Reed d. Simone Yang, 19,12,17; and Michelle Do d. Allison Seibel, 15,11,7.

By defeating Lily Yip, Tawny Banh clinched her spot on the team. In losing to Banh, Yip was eliminated. As a side result, with Yip eliminated (and her win over Sung in a potential tie-breaker), Virginia Sung clinched her spot on the team. This left three players contending for the final spot: Simone Yang (3-4), Michelle Do (2-4) and Jackie Lee (1-5). Jackie, however, could only make the team if she won her next two matches against Lily Yip and Michelle Do; she’d have to beat Do 3-0; and Do would have to beat Simone Yang 3-0. In this case, Lee, Do and Yang would all be 4-5; they’d be tied in games, and so it would go to points. Also, if Jackie Lee were to defeat Do and Yip, but not beat Do 3-0, then there could be a three-way tie between Do, Yang and Lee. Lee could not win, due to her 3-0 loss to Yang, unless she had beaten Do 3-0. Barring these scenarios, the winner between Do and Yang would take the fifth spot.

Out of contention are Lily Yip (2-5), Allison Seibel (1-6) and Whitney Ping (default due to injury). Yip could get into a tie for the fifth spot, but every scenario has her tying with players she has lost to (Do and Yang) and unable to win in the tie-breaking procedure.

Sore shoulder or not, Chang Jun Gao is simply leagues ahead of the rest of the field, and once again she showed this, defeating #3 Tawny Banh, 14,11,12.

The important match this round was Michelle Do’s match with Jackie Lee. Lee needed to win 3-0 to have a chance of making the team – and she won the first two! However, Do won the third to knock Lee out of contention. Lee won the match, 22,14,-17,18. However, one consequence of Do’s loss was that if Lee were to beat Lily Yip in the next round, and Do were to beat Simone Yang, it could force a three-way tie between Lee, Do and Yang. Lee couldn’t win (due to her 3-0 loss to Yang), but Do would now have to defeat Yang 3-0 in this scenario. If Lee were to lose to Yip in the next round, then the winner between Do and Yang would get the final spot on the team.

In other matches, Jasna Reed d. Virginia Sung, 9,13,20; and Lily Yip d. Allison Seibel, 4,5,11.

In a battle between the two 8-0 leaders, Chang Jun Gao d. Jasna Reed, 19,17,9.

However, there were really two matches of interest this round: Michelle Do versus Simone Yang, and Jackie Lee versus Lily Yip. If Yip were to defeat Lee (and Yip is rated 252 points higher), then the winner between Do and Yang would make the team. However, Lee had just come off upsetting Do, and was playing very well – and she defeated Yip, 20,-18,19,12. (Yip came back from down 15-10 in the second to win.) This meant that if Do defeated Yang, there would be a three-way tie between Do, Yang and Lee – and unless Do defeated Yang 3-0, Yang would grab the final spot on the team. Yang won the first game, so when shortly afterwards (during game three) Lee won against Yip, Yang clinched the final spot on the team. However, the two played on – possibly not knowing the scenario. Down 19-17 in the third, Do called a timeout, and after returning, won the next four points and the game. Do went up 21-20 match point in the fourth (Yang had the 20-19 game point), but lost the game 23-21. Yang went on to win the match, 15,-16,-19,21,11.

In the other match played, Tawny Banh d. Allison Seibel, 12,8,10.

And so here are the final standings (with Whitney Ping’s matches no longer counting), with the top five making the U.S. Team.

1. Chang Jun Gao 8-0
2. Jasna Reed 7-1
3. Tawny Banh 6-2
4. Virginia Sung 4-4
5. Simone Yang 4-4
6. Jackie Lee 3-5
7. Michelle Do 2-6
8. Lily Yip 2-6
9. Allison Seibel 0-8

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