Week 6 of Major League Table Tennis visited Duluth, Georgia, where the Princeton Revolution dominated the competition and the hometown Blazers held on. This week it was the Atlanta Blazers who didn’t have to travel far, but they had to face the Princeton Revolution who are second in the East Division, the Chicago Wind and the Bay Area Blasters.
Friday Afternoon – Bay Area Blasters vs. Princeton Revolution
Week 6 started with a dominant performance from the Princeton Revolution, who scored 11 points (out of 15) in the early stages. Seungmin Cho, Wang/Cho and Koyo Kanamitsu all won their matches. The two wins for the Blasters were Lily Zhang who took two of three from Jiangshan Guo and Elsayed Lashin who took two of three from Benedek Olah. Despite the dominant start, the Golden Game was extremely close and Princeton won 21-20. Naturally, the winner of the Golden Game receives 6 points, bringing the total to a very lopsided 17-4 overall.
Friday evening – Atlanta Blazers vs. Chicago Wind
The hometown Blazers took on Chicago in primetime, and that did not go in the Blazers’ favor. Atlanta won only two of the five games in the first phase, with Kayama Yu and Fent/Yu playing well. But the Wind saw wins from Mo Zhang, Emmanuel Lebesson and Robert Gardos to give them a 9-6 lead at the end of that phase. The momentum continued into the Golden Game, with the Wind recording a dominant 21-7 victory. Wind wins the match 15-6.
Saturday afternoon – Bay Area Blasters vs. Chicago Wind
In Saturday’s first game, the Blasters rebounded with a narrow 13-8 victory. Jinbao Ma, Elsayed Lashin and Lily Zhang of The Blasters all won their matches. The Wind’s Gardos and Gardos/Tran won their matches. The Wind actually led 8-7 entering the Golden Game, but the Blasters dominated the second phase (21-14), giving the Blasters the 13-8 victory.
Saturday Night – Princeton Revolution vs. Atlanta Blazers
In Saturday’s big match, the hometown team played against the top seed. The two teams traded blows during the first phase, with Princeton emerging with a narrow 8-7 lead. Cho, Guo and Kanamitsu all won for the Revolution, while Chandra and Yu/Xia won for Atlanta. Princeton dominated the Golden Game (21-7) to give them a combined score of 14-7.
Sunday Morning – Princeton Revolution vs. Chicago Wind
Princeton was vandalized Sunday morning. At the end of the opening phase it was 11-4 in favor of Wind and the Golden Game did not matter. It turns out that the Revolution won the Golden Game, but still lost 11-10. Gardos, Zhang, Park/Zhang and Park all won their matches. The Revolution’s only victory was Benedek Olah 2-1 over Emmanuel Lebesson.
Sunday afternoon – Atlanta Blazers vs. Bay Area Blasters
The weekend ended with a come-from-behind victory for Atlanta. Trailing 9-6 at the end of the first stage, they narrowly won the Golden Game 21-19, giving them the 12-9 match victory. The Blazers’ Oshima and Chandra recorded their two wins in the first phase. Lashin, Kim/Kwang-il and Lily Zhang each won for the Blasters.
Standings
The Princeton Revolution and Chicago Wind each went 2-1. The Atlanta Blazers finished 1-2 and defended their home base. The Bay Area Blasters finished 0-3. Currently, Princeton is second in the East behind the New York Slice. The Chicago Wind is firmly in third place in the West, behind Portland and Texas.
Next up: MLTT heads to San Antonio for Week 7. That part of Texas has had a heat wave with record temperatures in November – things could only heat up further when MLTT comes to town next weekend.
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