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NCTTA

NCTTA Newsletter
November 2009

Curious about who's the team to beat in college table tennis this year? Or what the 2010 Championships venue and hotel are like? Or about some up and coming rookie teams to watch out for down the road?

Then you'll want to keep reading for all the latest college table tennis news including results from the 2009-2010 Season so far ...

Division Competition Results
 A roundup of competition results from around the league

Virginia Division
Virginia Tech, preseason #5 and Division Champion for 6 of the last 7 years, appears to be continuing its dominance; the real battle may be for 2nd place as Duke, newcomer from the old Carolina Division sits in a three-way tie with Virginia and James Madison.

Minnesota Division
University of Minnesota, looking to recapture the success that led to a 4th place finish at the 2008 National Championships, goes undefeated, while a pair of new NCTTA schools, Normandale Community College and Rochester Community and Technical College sit in second along with Northwestern College, all currently with 2-2 records.

Texas Division
Though #1 Texas Wesleyan went undefeated as expected, Texas, currently in second place hopes to challenge the Texas Wesleyan dominance come spring competition.

Georgia Division
The Georgia Division event was hosted at a first rate facility in downtown Atlanta, Georgia and featured 9 schools from 3 neighboring states! Georgia Tech may have gone undefeated, but it wasn’t always easy, being forced into a close-fought doubles against #14 Georgia State. Preseason #11 Georgia, currently sits in second place with a 7-1 record. This may be the strongest Georgia Division ever!

Upper Midwest Division
New to NCTTA this year, the Upper Midwest Division was formed when the Midwest Division split into two divisions for the northern and southern schools in the region. #4 Wisconsin picks up where it left off in the former Midwest division and leads with an unblemished record.

Southern California Division
USC's "Ping Pong Posse" regrouped and rebuilt after a disappointing 2008-2009 campaign in which they finished 5th in the division. With some new recruits, USC managed to go undefeated, and that was without the help of new USC student, Jackie Lee, the Women’s Collegiate Singles Runner-Up when she last played college table tennis in 2006. UCLA is currently in second place, edging 2008-2009 Division Champion UC San Diego in doubles.

Lower Midwest Division
Lindenwood Coach Randy Kendle has got to be happy as preseason #3 Lindenwood fought off a scare from Washington-St. Louis and Illinois to take control of the division. Probably lucky for them that with the Midwest Division split they didn’t have to face preseason #4 Wisconsin of the Upper Midwest Division. The teams could still meet at the 2010 Championships, but there’s still plenty of table tennis to play in the Lower Midwest Division before that can happen.

Florida Division
Puerto Rico first joined NCTTA in 2007 and has won every regular-season match convincingly until this year. The 2009 Championship Runners-Up were challenged by #7 Central Florida, led by Dave Llona, and #9 Florida State, led by new recruit Olmo Zavala. With clever lineup strategy both schools were able to force Puerto Rico’s scholarship players into a decisive doubles match. Although Puerto Rico prevailed both times, Florida State and Central Florida laid notice that non scholarship schools can still compete!

Dixie Division
With home court advantage, Mississippi College triumphed at the Dixie Division competition Oct. 31. Coming during a busy Homecoming Weekend on the MC campus, MC President Lee Royce and his wife, Rhoda, MC International Programs Director Jim Brackenridge plus scores of alumni and local fans saw MC's team finish on top with Mississippi State University the runner-up and Alabama-Huntsville getting third. Read more ...

Ohio Division
Since 2004, either Ohio State or Michigan has won the Ohio Division, a streak that looks likely to continue into 2009-2010. Ohio State, armed with new recruits, plowed through the competition with an 8-0 record. Michigan State, which had a breakout year in 2008-2009, qualifying for their first National Championships, has another strong team, going 7-1 to land at 2nd place.

Sponsor Corner
Special thanks to our sponsors, Newgy and Killerspin!

Killerspin NCTTA, would like to thank Killerspin for its support of college table tennis. Killerspin is the exclusive NCTTA League and Championship Equipment sponsor through 2011. Member schools just need to fill out the Killerspin Premium Membership Program Application to receive phenomenal equipment discounts in the online Killerspin store. NewgyAlso, special thanks to NEWGY Industries, for its continued support of college table tennis including the Newgy-NCTTA Scholarship Program. Newgy offers a great way to fundraise for your club by signing up and participating in their Newgy Robo Pong Affiliate Program.

Governors State Pumped About First Taste of College Table Tennis

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Governors State University is also tooting its horn about its new table tennis team this fall. "Our mix of races, ethnicities and generations sets GSU apart from most other universities,'' writes President Elaine P. Maimon on the school's web site. "That diversity in the student body truly makes us what I like to call a public square, an inclusive community,'' says the leader of an Illinois school that seeks to reach out to traditionally underserved students.
 
Certainly, Governors State University's new table tennis team adds diversity to the mix on the University Park campus in the Chicago area. School leaders got the opportunity to see the team perform in a major tournament at the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association's Upper Midwest Regional Tournament at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Oct. 25.

It was a way for the new GSU club to begin to learn the ropes on a big tournament stage. Ranked #4 in pre-season polls, the University of Wisconsin-Madison was unbeatable and swept to a first-place finish. Purdue and Northwestern were the best of the rest in their tight battle for the No. 2 spot. A total of six schools and 11 teams competed.
 
But really, the much bigger news was the participation of Governors State as they brought their paddles and played with heart. Dr. T.J. Wang, a professor at the school, started the program. The club represents the first official investment for GSU, says Linda Leaf, Upper Midwest Division Director. It is a school sport as opposed to a student recreational club.
Read more ...

Murray State Sprints to NCTTA Regional Competition

Murray State University deserves the last-minute all-out hustle award for making it to their first regional NCTTA competition. Time was definitely running out in early November, but the new table tennis team from MSU team from Kentucky somehow got it done. Their sports teams are known as the Racers in the Ohio Valley Conference, and that nickname is an especially good fit when it comes to table tennis!
 
"They definitely get my nod of approval for displaying the old college table tennis sprint,'' says Randy Kendle, the NCTTA's Lower Midwest Division Director. "Way to go Murray State!" Murray State had to fork over a late fee, drove four hours to the Lindenwood University campus, and stayed at a nearby Super 8 motel before the November 8 competition. They even managed to win some games before it was over.
 
The process of joining NCTTA began in October when Kendle ran into Murray State Captain Aron Huckaba at a tournament in Indiana. He told the MSU player what needed to be done for the school to become eligible to compete in the 2009-2010 Season. Kendle notes that some schools around the nation take months to get prepared, submit all their paperwork and turn in their fees. In some cases, it is mostly lots of conversation and little action. But Murray State somehow got the whole process done in about a week, he said.

Murray State is home to 10,022 students and nine men's collegiate sports; ten for the women. The school is getting respect in the academic arena, too. "U.S. News & World Report'' this fall recognized Murray State as one of the South's best public universities- master's level - in its "Great School at a Great Price'' category.

NCTTA Rep. Visits Site of 2010 Championships
NCTTA Historian Scott Ryan tours facilities as part of planning process for 2010 Championships

It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it. The mission, should somebody decide to take it is to visit the site of the NCTTA's 2010 Nationals in the Milwaukee area. What sounds simple at first is really not the easiest task for just one person. Granted, it's not as complicated as inspecting the site of the 2012 Olympics in London. But there’s a lot to evaluate and document and not much time to get through it all.
 
NCTTA historian Scott Ryan agreed to accept the challenge in September. The Texan brought along a camera to document his findings on his visit Sept, 18-Sept. 20, 2009. He reported back to his NCTTA colleagues who oversee collegiate table tennis in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. It's a way for NCTTA leaders and teams playing in the national championships in April 2010 to get a little more familiar with the venue and perhaps get any questions answered months before the tournament rolls around.
 
Ryan checked everything from the floor of the 54,000-square foot Center Court Sports Complex to its lighting, competition space and spectator seating. There are seats for 750 fans, and 300 parking spaces. There are locker rooms, showers, concession stands, and the arena includes a pub and grill and banquet facility. He also toured the host Milwaukee Mariott West hotel with its 6 floors, 273 rooms, 9 suites and high speed Internet access.
 
Asked to rate the venue, Scott Ryan hands out pretty good grades and says the hotel looks great. The host hotel is only five minutes from the Championships venue and about 30 minutes to Milwaukee's General Mitchell Airport. The hotel also features an indoor pool, very nice rooms and a good restaurant. The venue has ample space for large courts, good lighting and a nice wood flooring surface.

Central Michigan Plays Tough in Ohio Debut
Rookie Chippewas team currently in 4th in NCTTA Ohio Division

The Central Michigan University Chippewas are better known for their football, wrestling and basketball teams. But this fall, a new four-man team of table tennis players emerged from nowhere at Michigan's fourth largest public institution.

The CMU table tennis players from China, Saudi Arabia and the US, all undergraduates, put in a strong showing in their debut in the NCTTA's Ohio Division competition in October. Finishing in 4th-place was a pretty good start in their initial outing. Perrenial Ohio Division powerhouse, Ohio State went undefeated throughout the event at the University of Akron, landing them in first place. Another new NCTTA member school, Indiana Tech, currently stands in third in the Ohio division. Kudos to Indiana Tech!
 
"Before we came to the tournament, our goal was don't be last,'' said CMU team member Wenwen Zhang, a native of China who's an accounting major at the school in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. "When we were actually playing the matches with other universities, we realized that we are not that bad like we thought before.''

In their first trip to a big-time college table tennis competition, these CMU players didn't set their goals too high and did much better than expected. "All of us had less stress on winning or losing the matches,'' Zhang said. And that fact helped the team perform at their best, he added.
Read more ...

Texas Wesleyan Gets 2009 Championship Rings
Most recent championship is Texas Wesleyan's sixth in a row

Everything is big in Texas, especially table tennis. And the gold standard is clearly Texas Wesleyan University.
 
Recently, there was a bit of unfinished business for the Rams on the Fort Worth campus. Texas Wesleyan President Harold Jeffcoat presented the 2009 National Collegiate Championship rings to the school's table tennis team. That's getting to be old hat for the university, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1890. A co-ed liberal arts school since 1934, they've been riding high as national collegiate table tennis champs for six consecutive years. Do the math - that goes back to 2004 or back when the US economy was in pretty good shape. How many sports teams at the college or professional level can say that?
 
Table tennis helped put Texas Wesleyan on the national and international map. President Jeffcoat knows a great deal about sports and the academic world. A University of South Florida graduate, the TWU leader began his career in higher education in 1975 after a decade as a professional baseball player. Besides handing out rings to TWU players, Jeffcoat also had the privilege of presenting head coach Jasna Reed-Rather with a re-minted Bronze Medal from her third place women's doubles finish in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the sport's first year in the Olympics.

The team's success didn't happen by accident. It took hard work from the coaches to the trainers to strong support from leaders like Dr. Jeffcoat and a strong lineup of sponsors. Texas Wesleyan will host a USATT-sanctioned 2-Star Tournament on Feb. 13, 2010. For more information about the program, email tabletennis@txwes.edu

Got an idea for a future story or newsletter topic? Email the NCTTA Media Relations Chair.
NCTTA Newsletter - November 2009

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