The Lindenwood Table Tennis team traveled to Cary, N.C. to compete in the 2011 Cary Cup Open in one of the highest level regional tournaments on the East Coast.
#Fernando Yamazato# won his group with a perfect 7-0 record. #Paulo Rocha# remained undefeated to win his group and teammate, #Andre Irigoyen# won his group to all advance to the final round robin.
In round robin play Yamazato struck first by upsetting Zeng three games to two. Rocha then showed his prowess by knocking off Yamazato. Zeng reclaimed a chance at the top spot by defeating Rocha (3-0). When the dust settled, a tie-breaker was needed to determine the winner. Rocha finished in second, Yamazato placed third,and Irigoyen finished in the fourth place slot.
Saturday's competition saw 144 players competing in a giant round robin. After the preliminary rounds were finished, the Lions had six players qualify for the "A" division, four players for the "B" division, one player for the "C" division, and one player for the "D" division.
In the "B" division #Leine Agata# had no mercy as she defeated all her opponents to go 8-0. She accomplished this being the eighth seeded player in her group. Her teammate, #Kris Frank#, went (8-0) to qualify for the trophy round in his round robin group. Frank ended up taking second place with a 2-1 record.
In the highest divsion, the Lions qualified four players to the Sunday competition. They were Rocha, Yamazato, Irigoyen, and #Fred Cantarelli#. Rocha went undefeated in his round robin group. Along the way, he defeated the Cary Cup defending champion and 2010 National Collegiate Champion, YanJun Gao. Yamazato reached the final 16 players with a record of 7-1. His one loss came at the hand of Zeng who he had previously defeated the day before. Irigoyen's record was 4-4 and Cantarelli's record was 4-4.
In Sunday's single elimination Round of 8, Irigoyen drew the defending champion, Gao, and lost in three straight games. Cantarelli drew the 2010 U.S. National Men's runner-up, Peter Li. Li was the top seed in the tournament and dispatched Irigoyen in three straight games. Yamazato drew Bin Hai Chu and took him down 11-3, 11-9, 11-7 to advance to the quarterfinals. Rocha drew Rocky Wang and beat him in four games to advance to the quarterfinals. Yamazato then played former U.S. national team member, Barney Reed Jr., in the semifinals and lost 11-8, 11-1, 11-4. Rocha was then stopped by Li in the quarterfinals in five games.
In the Sandpaper competition, Irigoyen showed his versatility by advancing to the final round robin. There he took 2nd place to eventual champion Ty Hoff.
Next up for the Lions is the 2011 Saint Peters April Open to be held on April 9-10.
