Joel Lidstrom, Press Committee Member

Among the myriad matches going on around me, one catches my eye. MIT defensive specialist Sophie Wu, twiddling smooth black and long-pipped red rubber, had lost the first two games to Virginia's Jie Lu. Finally poised to take a game and gain some momentum, Wu is up 9-5. But Lu's succession of tremendous smashes on high chops, followed by missed Wu chops on easy loops, brings Lu back to 8-9.

Sensing victory, Lu's pressure forces a weak defensive shot sure to miss the table and tie the score. But no! Luck intervenes. Wu's chop clips the top of net for a winner, propelling her to the next point and the game.

With a match score of 2-1, Wu redoubles her chopping intensity, and her twiddling begins to force errors. Lu is missing high "put-away" balls, and floating pushes as Wu now becomes the attacker.
Recognizing that she had lost confidence in her attacking, Lu abruptly changes her strategy. Instead of attacking early and intensely, she loops and pushes carefully, waiting five, six, seven shots before getting one she trusts to smash. The strategy succeeds, and leads to an MIT timeout, with Virginia up 8-6.

Wu then catches a little luck once again: an unforced error from Lu, Lu’s blown serve, and a pips edge ball evens the score at 9-all. Can Wu eke out yet another tortured win?

After Wu’s tremendous, chopped save out wide that comes to naught, Lu's power smash gives her match point. But she misses the smash! Did she just invite a fifth and deciding game?

Not a chance. Lu's hotly played point with smashes and a nifty counter-smash returns her to match point. With a high and short chop from Wu, Lu ends it with a thunderous forehand.

Happy but relieved, Lu told me, "I knew I had to change my tactics. I became conservative, hitting safe loops and pushes, and waiting way longer to finish the point.”
It was indeed, the perfect tactic.

(Pictured here is Jie Lu of Virginia. Photo credit by Dennis Yanga)

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Willy Leparulo; Guest writer
NCTTA Press Committee

The NCTTA Coed Team event is a highly anticipated competition that showcases the best collegiate table tennis teams in North America. The coed team event is the crown jewel as it allows the best men and women to compete together for their respective school. The Coed team provides a platform for these student athletes to strive for success together and make lasting memories and also bring back the hardware to their respective universities!
The 2024 College Table Tennis Championships will feature all six Regional Champions as well as wildcard schools. Our Regional Champions are:

Indiana University- Midwest Region Champion
New York University- Northeast Region Champion
Texas Wesleyan University- South Region Champion
University of California, Berkeley- West Region Champion
University of Virginia- Mid Atlantic Region Champion
University of Western Ontario- Great Lakes Region Champion
Let the games begin!

(Pictured here is the Texas Wesleyan University team projected to be one of the top seeds)
(Photo by Yukong Zhang)

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Michael Reff
Press Committee Chair

The 2024 Eau Claire NCTTA Championships promise to unleash the firepower from all athletes. One highly anticipated event is Men’s Doubles.

What makes doubles so exciting? I turned to none other than doubles enthusiast and NCTTA VP Joe Wells for his take.

“Doubles is such an enjoyable format,” Wells remarked.

“Unlike the many other racket/paddle sports, having each participant have to play the shot places a tough dynamic that requires strategy, supreme footwork, and constant communication between points. During my collegiate years I was fortunate enough to team up with a lanky lefty [he’s referring to me, folks!]. Many people feel that a lefty right team is an optimal position on the table. He and I had great success, and that set-up in dexterity played a big role in it.”

The top-seeded pair for this year’s Championship Men’s Doubles event are the Alguetti brothers Sharon and Gal from Indiana University. They already have the 2022 title under their belt and definitely have Wells’ aforementioned doubles qualities to go the distance again.

However, they will face some steep competition from predominantly Texas Wesleyan University (four pairs are in the top 10!) and California schools. Additionally, No. 3 seeds University of Chicago pair Chenxi Sui and Kenny Jiang are dark horses, as no one heard of Sui, a 2600 rated PhD student, until now.

VP Joe Wells is looking forward to the Men’s Doubles event, and so should you! Catch all the action starting Friday 4/12 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin!

(Photo by Yukong Zhang)

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

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

By Willy Leparulo, Guest Writer
NCTTA Press Committee

NCTTA hosts a Men's Singles event every year at the College Table Tennis Championships. This year we see a "who's who" of table tennis might! We have current and former domestic and international team players representing their country, themselves, and most importantly, their schools! Something to chew on is that the lowest rated player in the Men's Singles draw is a player rated above 2000. Let that resonate: there are no players below 2000 in Men's Singles!

NCTTA Vice President, Joe Wells stated enthusiastically, "There is no where to hide in Men's Singles this year. Where else can you get such a competitive tournament in the USA?!"

A favorite to take the Men's Singles competition is USA Table Tennis board member, MLTT player and #1 player for UC Berkeley, Nikhil Kumar. The junior Computer Science major has a lot on his plate school wise and table tennis wise. Busy people are successful people and while that is true, Kumar certainly will have a busy Men's Singles draw fending off all of the 2000+ rated players coming for the Men's Singles title! Check out the NCTTA Men's Singles kicking off in Eau Claire, Wisconsin on April 12th to 14th!

(picture of Nikhil Kumar)
(Photo by Dennis Yanga)

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

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

By Michael Reff
Press Committee Chair

Coaches come in all shapes and sizes in NCTTA. Sometimes paid, mostly unpaid, sometimes alumni, sometimes current players and even faculty! The bottom line is that they are passionate about imparting their technical knowledge and leadership in our great Olympic sport of table tennis. They also instill values of discipline and time management when it comes to balancing athletics and studies.

As NCTTA President/FSU table tennis coach Willy Leparulo states, “Coaches are fundamental in NCTTA providing both an on and off the table expertise.”

The 2024 NCTTA Championships in Eau Claire, Wisconsin is a perfect time for coaches to see how they and their players’ hard work have paid off. Although not all schools have coaches, there still is a large cohort that do. Some schools, such as Boston University and Texas Wesleyan University are even bringing 4 coaches for their respective teams! A lot of times a school brings a women’s and coed team, as well as singles and doubles players, so it’s great to get a lot of different coaches who specialize in each of these areas.

Judging by the passion and loudnproud cheering of coaches during NCTTA events, it’s safe to say that coaches are not just living vicariously through their players but are actually witnessing all their efforts come to fruition.
NCTTA salutes all those hardworking coaches who have devoted their time to making college table tennis an exciting team sport!

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Willy Leparulo; Guest writer
NCTTA Press Committee

One of the defining characteristics of Women’s college table tennis is the level of competition it offers. In NCTTA, women hold a vital spot in a successful Collegiate Championship experience.

NCTTA Championships has Coed (Men and Women) playing together in addition to women-only events like Doubles, Singles and Women’s Teams. Top women players generally can see that they will be playing 10-12 matches a day!

Texas Wesleyan University always brings a deep team and their women’s college table tennis leaders Zhen Deng and Jiaqi Lin are absolutely a one-two punch to be reckoned with! Deng and Lin are ranked #1 and #2 in Women’s Singles with former US Women’s National Team member, Crystal Wang of Emory, as #3.

The Women’s Doubles competition, which could be looked as a precursor to the women’s team competition (since doubles is a tiebreaker in the team competition), sees Deng and Lin as the top Women’s Doubles seed with an overall (4949) rating. The second place duo of UCLA’s Angie Tan and Joanna Sung are at (4675). The road to championships at NCTTA may start and end with the doubles. All that being said, Texas Wesleyan Rams are favored here.

The Texas Wesleyan Table Tennis program, owner of the most women’s team championships in all of college table tennis history, are hungrier than ever as last year’s title went to UCLA. Texas Wesleyan Rams have claimed 10 Championship Women’s Team titles and are currently ranked #3 in all of women’s college table tennis with UCLA and NYU at #1, 2 respectively. Look to see fireworks here!

(Pictured here are Zhen Deng and Jiaqi Lin of Texas Wesleyan Photo by Yukong Zhang)

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Willy Leparulo; Guest Writer
NCTTA Press Committee

The 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships are an interesting game of numbers and this isn’t just about telling the score! Let’s take a closer look!

46 Colleges and Universities
80 Men’s Singles (full event)
40 Women’s Singles (full event)
24 Coed Teams (full event)
16 Women’s Teams (full event)
32 Men’s Doubles (full event)
16 Women’s Doubles (full event)
245 Student Athletes
27 Coaches
101 Volunteers (staff)
24 Countries
68 Academic Disciplines

The NCTTA is a veritable mini United Nations and could along with the academic majors be a small to medium-sized university! We have male and female student-athletes from all over the globe. From China to Canada, Brazil to Thailand, and of course, the USA is also well represented!

NCTTA, a National Organization in USA Table Tennis for the past 15 years, is also the governing body of college table tennis and is excited to bring to Eau Claire, Wisconsin the plethora of international and domestic young collegiate stars on April 12-14th.

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org
____________

NCTTA Press Committee

PongSpace is proud to be partnering once again with NCTTA to expand table tennis. PongSpace is excited to contribute to NCTTA so the student-athletes can have a fun table tennis experience during and after their college career.
Speaking of enhancing one's collegiate table tennis career, PongSpace is rolling out products and services to help collegiate athletes improve their game. PongSpace co-founder and CEO Thomas Hu says, “We have signed multiple professional table tennis players to roll out the PongSpace remote coaching experience. The program is currently being piloted at schools in NYC now. Keep an eye out for our product launch in September!”

The NCTTA championships is the largest collegiate table tennis event in North America attracting top teams and players to participate as well as thousands of fans across the continent to watch the exciting competitions. “PongSpace appreciates the opportunity to work with NCTTA,” Hu said. “College table tennis athletes and enthusiasts bring unparalleled energy we need for the sport. PongSpace strives to provide a fun experience for them.”

"We are very happy at the partnership forged with PongSpace both here at the National Championships and in the future for our league, College school teams, and our Alumni!" said Willy Leparulo, president of NCTTA.
PongSpace’s mission is to connect table tennis players to table tennis resources. You can find affordable places to play with people you want to play with at a time you desire. The PongSpace CEO says, “We are also teaming with clubs and other venues so you can compete together with your friends in our George Braithwaite Major League Table Tennis in addition to your collegiate competitions. We offer free weekly instructional videos and soon interaction with top rank world professional players so you can improve your game.”

PongSpace is also rolling out "Peakapong" together with World Champion Xu Shaofa. “So no more who is better at Pickle Ball or Ping Pong. Bring them on!” exclaims Thomas Hu.
Thomas adds, “Some of you may be graduating in a few months stepping into another chapter of your life. What will the future be like in a new place with new people? Do not worry, there is always a space for you at PongSpace where you can find your table tennis comfort.”

To find a table near you to play, visit https://PongSpace.com

To learn more about the George Braithwaite Major League Table Tennis (Season 3 starting in September), visit https://georgebraithwaitemltt.PongSpace.com/

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.

PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org
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By Willy Leparulo; guest writer
NCTTA Press Committee

The question one has to ask is “How do they do it?” High performing athletes in Table Tennis who excel in both academics and our sport epitomize what we know to be a student athlete.
One could argue that every one of the 245 student athletes competing at this year’s National Championships fall into this category. You wouldn’t be wrong, however, there is another level of student athlete who is on top of their game both on the court and off of the court.

Ved Sheth from UC Berkeley (#7 in Men’s singles) majoring in Electrical Engineering Computer Sciences has an interesting perspective on the matter.

He says “I think the secret is a really fixed and dedicated plan to how you spend your time. If you're going to study for say 2-3 hours, you have to fully commit to studying for those 2 or 3 hours meaning no distractions at all. A lot of times people study with their phone near them or don't put pressure on themselves to get work done since they have more time. For me, I have to make full use of this time.” Time can be the enemy, but Ved makes it an advantage!

UCLA’s Angie Tan, sophomore and #4 singles in the Women’s Singles draw and current pre-med student majoring in Physiological Sciences.

Angie says, “Balancing my school with table tennis has definitely something I’ve been working on since I was young, and it has been especially hard after becoming a college student. However, I find it easier to keep up with my table tennis training when I don’t treat it as a task I have to accomplish but rather something I enjoy.”
There is the secret to success: enjoyment and passion!

Best of luck to all of the College Table Tennis players in their academics and their table tennis on the court!

Pictured here (left) Angie Tan (UCLA) and (right) Ved Sheth (UC Berkeley)

(Photos by Jia-Yu (Trinity) Sung)

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Jia-Yu (Trinity) Sung
NCTTA Press Committee

Every year as players trickle into the competition venue at Nationals, you could almost imagine yourself bird watching. Birds of a feather flock together, and when the venue doors open, the teams of NCTTA follow suit. Here and there your eye easily catches the bright reds of Boston or the golden yellows of Berkeley mingled with the royal purples of NYU. But when you turn your gaze away from the flocks of teams, you chance upon a rare glimpse of the individuals that fly solo—the singles players representing their university proudly by themselves.

Flying solo at Nationals requires more mental fortitude than most may realize. Without a team, you have no one to share your struggles, burdens, or even successes with. Representing the University of Rochester, sophomore Pradyuman Vijayakumar admits, “despite the financial and time commitments involved, the opportunity to make history for my college is something I couldn’t pass up.”

For senior Wendy Chen of the University of California Santa Cruz, she’s competing this year to make up for lost time. Faced with the unfortunate obstacle of COVID, Wendy’s collegiate table tennis career only started last year. “I’m graduating, so this would be my last year playing for college (for now at least), and with the opportunity I decided I should still go one last time!” she professes.

Equally spirited, Daniel Tan of Texas A&M recalls the importance of community in his table tennis journey and reminisces “I would finish my homework and my dad would take me to the local Chinese civic centers to play with all the uncles and aunties and slowly climb the ladder as I grew older.” Heading into Nationals, not only does Daniel look forward to seeing old friend and childhood rival, Oliver Wang of UT Dallas, but also to competing with some of the best players in North America. What else does Daniel hope to do in Wisconsin? “I want to watch good table tennis,” he says. Same here Daniel, same.

Foraying into the US table tennis scene, Kaustubh Kulkarni rose through and topped the ranks of state and national level table tennis in India well before he began his graduate studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Aiming to truly treasure this experience, Kaustubh proclaims, “I’m looking forward to playing against all the talented players that will be coming to Nationals and I’m eager to raise awareness about table tennis as a professional sport—hoping to win some good matches!”

With so many teams to watch, don’t forget to turn your eyes toward the determined singles players too. Maybe you’ll make some new friends at Nationals!

(Pictured: Kaustubh Kulkarni staring down his opponent at the 2024 NCTTA West Regionals)
(Photo by Jia-Yu (Trinity) Sung)

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

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