The Lindenwood Table Tennis Team traveled to New Albany, Indiana to compete in the 24th Annual Bernard Hock Tournament.
In the Hardbat finals, Lindenwood's Andre Irigoyen's winning streak finally came to an end as he Don Brazzell. Don's classic hardbat style was too much for the Lindenwood star. While Irigoyen took a commanding 4-0 lead, it would be his opponent that would win six of the next seven points to go ahead 6-5. Andre responded with his own streak winning four points in a row to lead 9-6. The match evened up at the halfway point. Then the opposition reeled off six points in a row to take the lead at 17-13. Irigoyen would eventually lose the first game 21-16. His opponent dominated the second game winning easily 21-4.
In the Under-2100 singles, Lindenwood's Michelle John reached the finals against Alexander Mehrabian of Chicago. Although the two players have met twice before in recent competition, John fell short of extending her undefeated status over Mehrabian by losing three games to one.
In the Open Singles final, Irigoyen stole the show. He was pitted against the 2009 National Collegiate semifinalist, Joey Cochran. In previous meetings, the matches have been close and this match was no different. It went right down to the wire. In the best of seven games, Cochran and Andre were even until 6-6 in the first game. Then Joey won the next 5 straight points to win the first game 11-6. The second game went to deuce with Lindenwood winning 12-10 to tie up the match. The third game went Lindenwood's way 11-9. Andre now led two games to one. The fourth game found the players neck and neck at 4-5 points when Joey again put together a 6-point streak to even the match at two games each. The fifth game went to Lindenwood easily 11-4. However, the collegiate semifinalist had not given up and tied the match at three games each by winning 11-7. The seventh, and final game, saw Cochran take a 3-0 lead, but Andre fought back to 3-3 and called timeout to gather his thoughts. The players traded points until 7-7 when Cochran called timeout. Balls were flying back and forth at lightning speed until Lindenwood closed out the match 11-9 and took the title.
In the team competition, Fred Cantarelli and Irigoyen advanced to the finals of the Championship Division by finishing their round robin undefeated. Seeded second, they took out the third seeded team 3-2 to reach the final match team match. Irigoyen took to the table for the first match and dispatched Stephen Clyde of Indianapolis three games to zero. Next up was Cantarelli against the 2009 National Collegiate semifinalist. Cantarelli had never beaten Cochran, but this match went to the fifth and final game where Cochran would prevail once again three games to two. With the team match now tied at 1-1 after the first two singles were played, the two Lindenwood singles players teamed together to play their opponents in doubles. Lindenwood's Brazilian duo took a 2-0 lead in games. Lindenwood's 2009 National Collegiate Doubles Semifinalists would not be denied and pushed the team match ahead 2-1 by winning the last game 11-6. Now the singles are reversed and a rematch between Irigoyen and Cochran will determine the fourth team point. If Irigoyen prevails, Lindenwood wins the team championship 3-1. Otherwise, Cantarelli faces Clyde in the final match to determine the outcome. Cochran wins game one, but Irigoyen races back to win games two and three to take a 2-1 lead in the best of five. Cochran wasn't done yet and took game four to send the match to the fifth and final game. But this was Irigoyen's weekend to cherish as he won the last game 11-5 and secured the team championship for Lindenwood.
Next up for the Lions is their own 2009 Lindenwood October Open to be held at the Performance Arena October 24-25. Admission is free to watch.
