The UCSD club table tennis team had a phenomenal performance at the West regional tournament, as they captured 4th place. As a result of their performance the tritons received a wild card invitation to participate in the National Collegiate Tournament in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
At the regional tournament, UCSD had a tough draw and as teams were split into two groups two distinct triton teams had to face off against Stanford, San Jose State University, and University of British Columbia. Luckily, the team was able to come out on top of the group after a 3-1 win against Stanford, a 3-1 win against San Jose, and a tight 3-2 against UBC after an amazing doubles performance from our top players Shenyu Liu and Steven Chen.
After advancing to the single elimination round, the team had another close win against USC by the score line of 3-2 before falling to the eventual champs UC Berkeley 4-0 in the semifinal stage. A Nationals spot was on the line against UCSD’s rivals UCLA and after 4 close matches, UCLA was able to win 3-1 claiming 3rd place and directly qualifying to nationals. However, UCSD was still able to qualify for the national tournament later after receiving a wild card invitation.
In the singles tournament, UCSD’s top player Shenyu Liu was able to qualify past the group stages with a 2-1 record. In the second round, Shenyu faced a tough challenge competing against one of UC Berkeley’s top players Aarsh Shah. After playing some exceptional table tennis and leading two games to none, Shenyu couldn’t hold on to the lead and fell 3-2 in a very close encounter. Aarsh Shah went on to defeat the 2nd seeded player in the tournament and made it all the way to the final.
Overall, UCSD Co-ed Varsity placed 4th in regionals. The team brought back two SoCal East Division champion trophies (Co-ed and Women’s) and four SoCal East division singles medals (Men’s and Women’s 1st and 2nd place).
