Texas Wesleyan Captures 2017 Championships

(Picture from Jasna Rather of the Texas Wesleyan University team)
 
This weekend's 2017 TMS College Table Tennis Championships has featured what the best of College Table Tennis looks like in watching the famed Texas Wesleyan University table tennis team take 5 of 6 titles! Texas Wesleyan earned titles in the Women's Doubles, Men's Doubles, Men's Singles, Women's Teams and the coveted Men's/Coed Team category. Only the women's singles escaped them (and barely too!)

Was there ever any doubt? Well, actually the matches were very much contested and the Rams worked very hard to achieve these goals. Coach Rather states, " Texas Wesleyan team came well prepared and motivated to 2017 Collegiate National Championship. We knew that competition is on a very high level and that winning any of six titles would be extremely difficult." 

Each of the finals that Texas Wesleyan was involved with was incredible to watch and to experience. Rather adds, " We respect other teams and know that each match we play is a new battle that could go either way. Texas Wesleyan is always proud of our athletes and how much they give out when they represent school, including this weekend."

This year's Men's/Coed Team title was against the famous University of California-Berkeley who ousted Mississippi College. Mississippi College had faced Texas Wesleyan for the past five years. This year Berkeley had high hopes and a good chance, but ran into the Texas Wesleyan machine which had all of its engines moving at rapid pace.

Texas Wesleyan showed its experience especially in the Women's team semi final where championship women's doubles duo Wang Chen and Yue Wu dug themselves out of trouble several times by beating out UC Berkeley! Coach Rather states about her doubles phenoms, "Berkeley almost had us in the final match of the team event, but Texas Wesleyan girls showed what really means to have team spirit and supporting each other through toughest time. Coach Doru's support in the match and girls never giving up allowed Texas Wesleyan to take another Women's National Team title."

College Table Tennis is about the intangibles many times more than good footwork, forehands, etc. NCTTA applauds their #loudnproud approach to it all.  Coach Rather says, "Recruiting, team spirit of athletes and coaches on Wesleyan team, caring for each other and getting prepared well is what Texas Wesleyan did the best for the last 15 years. Maintaining strong team, team spirit, and staying on the top have not been easy to do for so many years. Our team have won at least one title each year since the inception of the program with total of 65 since 2002, our first competing year in collegiate competition. 

Congratulations to Texas Wesleyan's Table Tennis team, well deserved titles and accolades are in store for them upon their return to Ft. Worth and much praise from the rest of the College Table Tennis world for their historic wins!

The 2017 TMS College Table Tennis Championships is hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Eau Claire CVB and is one of the premier table tennis tournaments in North America featuring 6 events: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.  The event is sponsored by TMS International, Gerflor, Double Fish

Players and spectators alike will enjoy a jam-packed weekend of table tennis at the TMS College Table Tennis Championships. The event starts Friday April 7th and continues through Sunday April 9th. 

About NCTTA

The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org

About USA Table Tennis

Headquartered in Colorado Springs, USATT is the national organizing body for table tennis in the United States, serving 9,000+ members and nearly 300 clubs. USATT sanctions 200+ events a year including the US Open and US Nationals. USATT is affiliated with the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), as well as the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). www.usatt.org