Week 5 of Major League Table Tennis brought dreams and drama to Westchester, New York. The New York Slice were the home team with fan support, but they had to compete with the Texas Smash to see who would make the biggest impact. 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 started with an exciting battle between Princeton and Los Angeles. The Spinners took an early lead after 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 these three wins was by a 2-1 lead, so the lead was lost when Princeton’s Koyo Kanamitsu won his singles match 3-0, and when Benedek Olah won his match 2-1. The end result was an 8-7 Revolution lead, and when they narrowly won the Golden Game, it made for a 14-7 victory.
Friday Night – New York Slice vs. Texas Smash
Friday’s primetime matchup pitted the Slice against the Texas Smash. The Slice started strong with a pair of 2-1 wins in singles (Koki Niwa over Joao Monteiro and Choi Haeeun over Amy Wang) before the Monteiro/McBeath Smash team won 2 of 3 in doubles. The two teams split the last two singles matches (Smash’s Kasahara over Yiran Wu 2-1 and Slice’s Kaden Xu over Nandan Naresh 2-1), giving the Slice an 8-7 lead. The Slice dominated the Golden Game, extending their victory to 14-7.
Saturday Afternoon – Princeton Revolution vs. Texas Smash
On Saturday, Texas needed a 21-20 victory in the Golden Game for a come-from-behind victory. The Revolution led three of the five games in the early stages to a 9-6 lead. De Saintilan, Seungmin Cho and the doubles team of Kanamitsu/Cho each won in the early stages of the match. In the Golden Game, Nandan Naresh (Smash) and Jiangshan Guo (Revolution) exchanged points. Smash’s Monteiro and Kasahara each increased the lead for the Smash. Benedek Olah then dominated, scoring 7 points for the Revolution and single-handedly leveling the match. However, Smash’s David McBeath closed the door, scoring 6 of 8 points for the come-from-behind 21-20 Golden Game victory and the 12-9 victory.
Saturday Night – New York Slice vs. Los Angeles Spinners
In the closest score, the Slice recorded an 11-10 victory on Saturday night, narrowly defeating the Los Angeles Spinners. The Spinners won 4 of the 5 opening matches, with Robinot, Ekholm and Kou Lei winning the singles and Pistej/Madrid winning the doubles. The only win for the Slice was Yiran Wu, who won 2 out of 3 against Lubomir Pistej. At this point the Spinners took their commanding 10-5 lead in the Golden Game. At that moment, the momentum changed, with Koki Niwa and Choi Haeeun gaining advantages for the Slice, and Slice’s Wenzhang Tao delivering the biggest blow with a 7-1 victory. Ultimately, the Slice escaped with a 21-10 Golden Game victory and the result was an 11-10 match win.
Sunday Morning – Los Angeles Spinners vs. Texas Smash
On Sunday, Texas Smash dominated Los Angeles 16-5. The dominance in the opening matches was so great that the Golden Game result did not matter, although the Smash also won that series. Joao Monteiro, Amy Wang, Monteiro/McBeath and Kasahara all won their matches. The only loss was the Spinners Alexandre Robinot who won 2 out of 3 against Anirban Ghosh.
Sunday Afternoon – New York Slice vs. Princeton Revolution
The weekend ended with the Princeton Revolution dominating the New York Slice. This means that none of the teams remained undefeated this week. Like the other Sunday match, this was won before the Golden Game – with the Revolution leading 10-5 after the individual matches (the Revolution also won the Golden Game, giving them the 16-5 victory). Benedek Olah, Koyo Kanamitsu and Seungmin Cho all won their matches for the Slice.
Standings
The Slice was 2-1. The Smash was 2-1. The revolution was 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.
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