Photo of WashU's Thomas Yuan and Shawn Fong. Photo Credit to Dennis Yanga

By Michael Reff
NCTTA Media Committee

At 9am in Round Rock, Texas, the 2023 NCTTA Championships kicked off with quite a treat for spectators. 23 seeded WashU St. Louis duo Thomas Yuan and Shawn Fong embodied heart and passion, with upset wins over no. 13 seeded Harvard and no. 3 seeded Texas Wesleyan.

The lefty/righty pairing had a loudnproud cheering section, which propelled them through to the quarter finals, where they ultimately lost to fifth seeded UCLA.

WashU’s coach Sean Peng was proud of his team, saying that the players “motivated themselves.” Regarding how the team has prepared for the matches, coach Peng said that they all knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses, but they ultimately try to focus on their strengths during match play.

In their match versus Texas Wesleyan, WashU had a decisive lead at 6-2 in the fifth game, but then Texas Wesleyan fought their way back with 4 consecutive points to tie it up at the 6-6 towel break. WashU regained their composure, breaking TWU’s rhythm, which earned them the next two points at 8-6. At 8-9 with Texas Wesleyan to serve, WashU called a time out, and ultimately only yielded one more point before winning the match at 11-9.

Kudos to Thomas and Shawn of WashU for their strong showing in the Men’s doubles opening day!

About 2023 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships

The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, PongSpace, Major League Table Tennis.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 14th on champs.nctta.org

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 elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org