The February Loopalalooza went well, with only a few bumps along the way.
Jan & Feb tournaments had increased prize money due to 2400+ Joseph Cruz
residing with us since the Baltimore teams. We had hoped to attract more
2000+ players from out of town & did so, but not enough to justify the cost.
Our April tournament will have a slight decrease in prize money:
1st/$200, 2nd/$100, 3rd/$60, Class B 1st/$50, Class C 1st/$40, Class D 1st/$40.
Along with the saturday rating events, this is still the best 2 star tournament
in the region. Look us up & join in.
Our club benefitted from Cruz' presence & look forward to his (& Mark Flores)
return later this year.
We also plan on incorporating a racket testing machine by next tournament.
While all of our players have "gone legal", it seems there are still players
out there who do not believe in their own skill enough to rely on talent alone
to win matches. Without the means to prove accusations, we are at the mercy of
opponents sense of decency & honour. As fate would have it, the questionable
players were dispensed without prize money or upsets.
A growing trend our players are taking part in is trying to play only in higher
rated events while not participating in competetive events. No one blames the
1485 player for not playing in the U1500; but when 1200 & 1300 rated players skip
this event for u1750 & u2000 with predictable results, it begs for a response.
If you are 1200, 1500, 1800, etc, it's for a reason. The reason is you participated
in competition before & your efforts & results gave you a usatt rating indictaing
your level of achievement.
If ratings are important to you, work on improving your skills & tournament play.
This practice of avoiding level competition in the hopes of 1 big win in a higher
event has more negative impact on more players than any other stategy I know of.
Players subject themselves to humiliating beat downs without enjoying competetive
matches; then go into table tennis depression.
My advice (as well as most coaches): play in competetive events. Dominate those events.
It will earn you rating points, prize money, confidence & a positive feeling going
into the next higher rated event.
Saturday Events
U1500 RR
1st Bill Englebreth 2/1 $40
2nd Chris Kennedy 1/2 $20
3rd Debbie Liske 0/3
4th Craig Auerbach 3/0 (unrated)
U1750 RR
4 groups of 4 RR advanced top 2 players to 1/4 final single elimination.
Preliminary Round Upsets:
1483 Troy Davis over 1674 Vince Green 3-2
1471 Christian Amidi over 1687 Mike Wetmore 3-1
Semi Finals
1724 Elvis Lopez over 1664 John Pahl 3-2
1468 Israel Dumbuya over 1535 Albert Zhang 3-0
Final
Evis Lopez over Israel Dumbuya 8,10,12.
1st/$60 2nd/$30
U2000 RR
5 groups of 4 advanced top 2 players to single elimination
Preliminary Round Upsets:
1468 Israel Dumbuya over 1823 Tony Banjoko 3-0
1687 Mike Wetmore over 1724 Khoa Vu 3-2
Semi Finals
1809 Edem Komlanvi over 1953 Van Vu 3-1
1917 Justin Roper over 1887 Colton Carter 3-0
Final
Justin Roper over Edem Komlanvi 10,-10,7,-8,11.
1st/$100 2nd/$60
Great back & forth match with 2 hyper, talkative players.
Just as Komlanvi was finally playing up to his potential, playing more control shots
as well as controlling his emotions, Roper's steady playing helped him squeak out a win
that entertained all.
U3000 Doubles
1st Colton Carter/Chris Kennedy 2927
2nd Mike Stroupe/Christian Amidi 2940
3rd John Pahl/Craig Auerbach 2914
4th Chris Obrian/Debbie Liske 2758
5th Joel Mitchell/Bill Englebreth 2748
U3700 Doubles
Semifinals
Tom Miller/Elvis lopez (3539) over Colton Carter/John Pahl (3551) 3-2
Heiko Plankenhorn/Monellie Sturm (3409) over Justin Roper/Israel Dumbuya (3385) 3-0
Final
Miller/Lopez over Plankenhorn/Sturm 3-1
1st/$100 2nd/$60
Sunday Events
Open RR
8 groups of 4 preliminary RR advanced all players:
Top 2 to Class A/B 4 groups of 4 RR;
top 2 advanced to Championship SE
Bottom 2 advanced to Class B SE
3rd place pre round advanced to Class C 2 groups of 4 RR; winners final
4th place pre round advanced to Class D 2 groups of 4 RR; winners final
Preliminary round upsets:
1809 Edem Komlanvi over 1973 Amir Amidi 3-1
1960 NJ Ozumba over 2024 Chris Obrian 3-1
1914 Jude Lam over 2124 Mark Flores
2024 Chris Obrian over 2124 Mark Flores
Championship Semi Finals
2479 Joseph Cruz over 2132 Pablo Perez 3-0
2165 Alex Hohl over 2113 Usher Huang 3-0
Championship Final
Joseph Cruz over Alex Hohl 10,10,7.
Hohl played the best table tennis of his life & had his chances.
There were impressive counterlooping rallies forehand & backhand.
Hohl was winning the 2nd game 10-4, but eventually lost 10-12.
Is Cruz really that good? 300 points is a big difference at any level,
& it was difficult to say Cruz overpowered Hohl with so many great long rallies.
More correct to say Hohl met the challenge by playing at his peak,
while Cruz was in his comfort zone able to counter at will with his more
predictable opponent.
1st/$300 2nd/$150
3rd & 4th place was contested by Usher Huang & Pablo Perez.
In an earlier meeting Perez won over Huang 3-2;
coming back from 8-10 down in the 5th.
This time Huang won 3-0 with a little more gas in his tank.
3rd/$80
Class B Semi Finals
1809 Edem Komlanvi over 1917 Justin Roper 3-0
(avenging his 2-3 loss from saturday u2000 Final)
1949 Heiko Plankenhorn over 1871 Ha Trinh 3-1
Class B Final
Heiko Plankenhorn over Edem Komlanvi 9,8,9. 1st/$50
Class C Final
1953 Amir Amidi over 1855 Stan Gee -3,-7,10,9,9. 1st/$40
Class D Final
1535 Albert Zhang over 1770 Yuri Godin 8,8,7. 1st/$40.
U4000 Doubles
1st Usher Huang/Colton Carter (4000) $100
2nd Mark Flores/Justin Roper (3999) $60
3rd Alex Hohl/Edem Komlanvi (3974)
There were many strong teams (Pahl/Miller) with the doubles events always popular.
Sportsmanship was evident as the same players always winning the same event
allowed some new faces to compete & advance. Magnanimus. Look it up.
