College Report

January/February 2006

Mid-Season College Report

By John McInerney

The 2005-2006 NCTTA season has reached its halfway point, and for many schools, the privilege of being awarded the title of Division Champion has proved to be a highly contested honor. 

Each year over a dozen divisions nationwide compete for the coveted Division Championship.  Winning your division not only enhances the look and appeal of your respective university nationwide, but it also guarantees your team a spot in the season-ending NCTTA National Championships.  

Growing in numbers this year at universities around the country are the boisterous B teams of would-be collegiate contestants.  B teams are somewhat of a junior varsity categorization of players, which allow students the chance to transition to the A team over time.  A school’s A team is comprised of the top 4 players represented among the entire group of athletes.  It is here that players can contribute to their team’s success point-wise and overall placement in the division standings.  The number of B team participants depends heavily on tryout numbers at the beginning of the season. 

Also growing in numbers is the total amount of registered women’s teams around the nation.  A total of 18 teams nationwide will compete this year in the second NCTTA Women’s Championships in Ft. Worth, Texas.

 In a season filled with unanticipated upsets, our players have come out swinging once again it what is shaping out to be another killer year.   Let’s take a look at what some of our school’s team captains had to say...

Virginia Division

The Virginia Division is busy once again with 9 teams competing for a trip to Nationals.  In the first meet at Virginia Tech, University of Virginia dominated, beating second place Virginia Tech 4-1.  New UVA player Raphael Hillebrand won a key match against Konda Reddy, VT’s number one player and a top finisher at the ACUI Regionals last year.  Radford, a new team to the division, broke onto the scene with a solid 4 win - 4 loss fifth place finish.  UVA and Virginia Tech will butt heads once again for the top spot in the division next semester in the spring.

Standings

1. UVA

2. Virginia Tech

3. Liberty

4. JMU

5. Radford

6. Hampden-Sydney

7. (7-9.) Washington and Lee, EMU, VCU (tie)

Ohio Division

The Ohio division held its fall meet on Oct. 29, 2005 at Ohio State University. The turnout was much improved from last year as 8 teams competed at the event.  Many schools brought B teams that played friendly matches. Ohio State was the only school to present a women’s team; however, the women’s team was able to compete against other schools’ B teams.  The Ohio division is definitely stronger as a whole this year. Michigan State, Ohio State, Kentucky, and Case Western are at the top of the standings. All these schools are in contention for a spot at the Nationals, with the Spring meet the place where the Ohio Division representative will be decided.

This year has been a very strong year so for Ohio State University.  Interest levels have been terrific with 3 men’s teams, a women’s team, 53 total members, and the launching of a weekly “ratings central” league.

Dixie Division

On Nov. 12, 2005 the Dixie Division held its Fall 2005 meet at the USM Payne Center.  The University of Southern Mississippi came in first with a record of 3-0 leading into the event.  The other three schools were tied with scores of 1-2 each.  The most exciting match of the event was the contest between USM captain Tiger Ramakrishnan and Andreus Bergstrom of West Florida.  Bergstrom managed to take the first two games of the match from Tiger. Ramakrishnan then turned up his game a notch, and won the next three games in what was probably one of the most crucial of the day’s matches. 

In the Women’s event, two schools competed, Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi.  The USM women were playing their first NCTTA match against MSU, whose team won 4th place at the NCTTA Nationals in April 2005.  In their varsity play against MSU, the USM women did not lose a match.  USM is being led by Heather Gausline, Mai Konishi, and Tiffany Day. 

Standings

1. USM

2. Mississippi State University

3. University of West Florida

4. Alabama

 Upstate NY Division

On Nov. 12 nine schools competed in the NCTTA Upstate NY Division tournament.  Competition was intense as usual, yet it was Toronto that led the way with a strong 28-0 undefeated record.  The team following Toronto’s lead, however, was a surprise.  RPI, led by freshman Yin Wang and great coaching, excelled and was able to defeat Cornell (who placed 2nd last year).  Yin Wang seemed virtually unbeatable until the last match verses Toronto’s Alfred Chan.  The two played a very tight match.  It was Alfred, however, that came ahead with a 3-2 victory. SUNY Buffalo finished 3rd.

In the women’s division, it was also Toronto that dominated, finishing 1st in this meet.  Cornell, lead by Felicia Chiu, finished 2nd overall with Buffalo trailing in third.  A spectacular match was witnessed between Toronto’s Peipei Zheng and Felicia Chiu.  Although both women played hard, it was Pei Pei who emerged with a 3-1 win.

Standings

Men:

1. Toronto

2. RPI

3. SUNY Buffalo

4. RIT

5. Cornell

Women:

1. Toronto

2. Cornell

3. SUNY Buffalo

Carolina Division

In a tightly contested first meet, all of the matches between the A teams ended up with a final score of 3-2. NC State, led by much improved Monther Aldwairi, posted an impressive win against Duke even without many of their star players from last year. UNC Charlotte managed to fend off both teams with 3-2 wins, and the man they call “Usher” seems to be the most valuable player in the entire division, defeating everyone in his path. Unfortunately, Clemson didn’t make it, but we hope they’ll make it to the next one.

Standings

1. UNC Charlotte

2. NC State

3. Duke

4. Clemson (didn’t make it)

Northern California Division

University of California, Berkeley hosted the Northern California Division Fall meet on Sunday, November 13 using the facilities of the Concord Table Tennis Club in Pleasant Hill, California.  With 5 schools and 9 teams in this division, this is the only venue big enough for the meet and with 12 brand new Butterfly Centerfold tables at their disposal, the playing conditions were first class.

UC Berkeley, defending Champion of this division, fielded a women’s team in addition to their coed team. However, unlike last year, their coed team actually has 3 men in addition to their 4 top seeded women players, who perform double duty as members of their women’s team. Despite her busy school work as well as training schedule as a member of the U.S. National Women’s team and member of the California Pro-League, Jackie Lee manage to make time to play the number one position in the Cal Bears Coed and women’s team. Stanford University, UCB’s archrival, returned with two Coed teams and a women’s team. A member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, Whitney Ping takes on the due role of berthing the top position of their A team and Women’s team.  Veteran of many past NCTTA tournaments Kyna Fong made a return appearance on their women’s team, having exceeded her eligibility to play in the coed team. meet.

The meet started at 3:30pm and went on for five and a half hours. In the women’s division, it was a head to head contest between UCB and Stanford.  Stanford’s women’s team had only three players against Berkeley’s four.  Captain Kyna Fong deftly positioned herself as the third position player behind a much weaker 2nd position player. Sacrificing this position to Berkeley’s Allison Seibel, Kyna was able to beat Berkeley 3rd position Minh-Thanh Nguyen. The match came down to the battle of the titans with Berkeley’s Jackie Lee coming up short against Stanford’s Whitney Ping in the fifth.  However, with only three players, thus forcing a forfeit of the 4 singles, the team tie came down to a doubles showdown.  It took five games and over 40 minutes, but in the end, Stanford’s Whitney/Kyna partnership prevailed over Berkeley’s Jackie/Allison duo.  In this first Women’s team showdown, Stanford walked away the winner.

In the Coed A-team ties, almost all the ties were decided by just the 3 singles matches for most of the evening. The first doubles match of the evening was played when UC Davis took UC Berkeley to the fifth game of doubles match, but lost 9-11.  Berkeley, undefeated for the evening, was now poised to do battle with undefeated Stanford.  With the singles match score 2-1 in Berkeley’s favor, it came down to the singles match between Jackie and Whitney again. Again, it went to the fifth. A win by Whitney would mean another doubles tie-breaker between the teams.  Then, Berkeley caught a lucky break. With Jackie leading, it was Whitney’s serve. A looping and hitting rally ensued. Whitney executed a flying loop which landed but Whitney landed on her ankle. Jackie missed her return.  After nursing her ankle for about 10 minutes, it was obvious that Whitney has sprained it and could not continue thus forfeiting the game and the match. With that Berkeley walked away, still undefeated for the tournament, and the meet championship.

Florida Division

The Florida division is off to a hot start with UCF’s upset of defending division champion UF.  The Golden Knights are looking to capitalize on long-time division veteran Florida State with a win over the Noles in the spring.  Led by number one player Mark Plyler and NCTTA President Willy Leparulo, the Noles present a challenge spiked with talent and experience that will surely be looming over the Knights in the time leading up to next semester’s meet. 

Standings:

1. Florida State

2. UCF

3. Florida

4. N. Florida