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APRIL 8, 2006
NCTTA TEAM COMPETITION
FORT WORTH, TX: The NCTTA team tournament got underway during the Clear Channel National Collegiate Table Tennis Championships on Saturday.
The preliminary round, which began on Saturday and continues at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, features 23 men’s teams and 11 women’s teams. The round robin preliminaries determine the sequence for Monday’s progressive elimination final.
One of the biggest upsets of the day came in the women’s competition. Sixth ranked University of Southern California defeated top ranked Texas Wesleyan University in a somewhat controversial match.
In the match lineup, both teams neglect to select a doubles draw in case of a possible 2-2 tie. The match did go to a 2-2 tie and advanced to a decisive doubles match. For both teams that meant that the number one and number four players were selected for the match, and the more balanced USC team came away with the 3-1 (11-13, 11-3, 11-8, 11-8) in doubles and 3-2 in the team match.
The Texas Wesleyan women now stand at 1-1 in the preliminary and will have to wait until Sunday to find out if they are still alive for a National Championship bid.
In other women’s action Toronto (2-0), Stanford (1-0), and John’s Hopkins (1-0) are all undefeated.
On the men’s side Texas Wesleyan (2-0), Princeton (2-0), University of California San Diego (2-0), Toronto (2-0), Washington (1-0), USC (1-0), Nebraska (1-0), Virginia (1-0), and Ohio State (1-0) remain undefeated.
Sunday’s competition will begin with more team preliminaries at 9:00 a.m. and continue with ACUI singles finals at 12:00 p.m.
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