(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT)
Week 5 of Major League Table Tennis delivered dreams and drama in Westchester, New York. The New York Slice were the home team with fan support, but they had to contend with the Texas Smash for who would leave the biggest impression. In addition to the hometown fans New York Slice and the Texas Smash were the Princeton Revolution, and Los Angeles Spinners.
Friday Afternoon – Princeton Revolution vs. Los Angeles Spinners
Week 5 opened with a tight contest between Princeton and Los Angeles. The Spinners took an early lead behind strong singles play from Koi Lei and Matilda Ekholm. They extended their lead in Doubles with their team of Pistej and Sareen. However, each of those three wins was by a 2-1 lead, so the advantage was lost when Princeton’s Koyo Kanamitsu won his singles match 3-0, and when Benedek Olah won his 2-1. The end result was an 8-7 lead by the Revolution, and when they narrowly won the Golden Game, that secured a 14-7 win.
Friday Evening – New York Slice vs. Texas Smash
The primetime Friday matchup featured the Slice against the Texas Smash. The Slice started strong with a pair of 2-1 singles victories (Koki Niwa over Joao Monteiro and Choi Haeeun over Amy Wang) before the Monteiro/McBeath Smash team took 2 of 3 in doubles. The two squads split the final two singles matches (Smash’s Kasahara over Yiran Wu 2-1 and Slice’s Kaden Xu over Nandan Naresh 2-1) leaving the Slice with the 8-7 advantage. The Slice dominated the Golden Game and extended their win to 14-7.
Saturday Afternoon – Princeton Revolution vs. Texas Smash
On Saturday, Texas needed a 21-20 win in the Golden Game for a come-from-behind win. The Revolution three of the five matches in the initial phase that led them to a 9-6 lead. De Saintilan, Seungmin Cho and the doubles team of Kanamitsu/Cho each won in the initial match phase. In the Golden Game, Nandan Naresh (Smash) and Jiangshan Guo (Revolution) traded points. Smash’s Monteiro and Kasahara each extended the lead for the Smash. Benedek Olah then dominated, scoring 7 points for the Revolution and single handedly tying the match. However, the Smash’s David McBeath closed the door, scoring 6 of 8 points for the come-from-behind 21-20 Golden Game win, and the 12-9 victory.
Saturday Evening – New York Slice vs. Los Angeles Spinners
In the closest possible score, the Slice pulled off an 11-10 victory on Saturday Evening, narrowly defeating the Los Angeles Spinners. The Spinners won 4 of 5 initial matches with Robinot, Ekholm, and Kou Lei winning singles and Pistej/Madrid winning doubles. The lone victory for the Slice was Yiran Wu who won 2 of 3 over Lubomir Pistej. At this point, the Spinners took their commanding 10-5 lead into the Golden Game. At that point, the momentum shifted with Koki Niwa and Choi Haeeun gaining advantages for the Slice, and Slice’s Wenzhang Tao striking the biggest blow with a 7-1 win. In the end, the Slice escaped with a 21-10 Golden Game win and the result was an 11-10 match win.
Sunday Morning – Los Angeles Spinners vs. Texas Smash
On Sunday, the Texas Smash dominated Los Angeles 16-5. The dominance in the opening matches was enough that the Golden Game result didn’t matter – though the Smash won that series as well. Joao Monteiro, Amy Wang, Monteiro/McBeath, and Kasahara all won their matches. The only loss was the Spinners Alexandre Robinot who took 2 of 3 over Anirban Ghosh.
Sunday Afternoon – New York Slice vs. Princeton Revolution
The weekend closed with the Princeton Revolution dominating the New York Slice. That is, none of the teams this week went undefeated. Like the other Sunday match, this won was done before the Golden Game – with the Revolution up 10-5 after the individual matches (the Revolution also won the Golden Game giving them the 16-5 win). Benedek Olah, Koyo Kanamitsu, and Seungmin Cho all won their matches for the Slice.
Standings
The Slice were 2-1. The Smash were 2-1. The Revolution were 2-1. The Spinners were 0-3. Overall, the Slice now lead the East with a 6-3 record. Portland leads the West with a 7-2 record. The MLTT’s next event is in Duluth. We’ll see you for Week 6 in Georgia.
