CONCORD AT PALO ALTO-FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2006
By Shashin Shodhan
The Palo Alto Team had Voltaire Benedicto and Sara Fu decide to not play for the rest of the league season. James Guo, who has been coaching in Portland, now will play for the Palo Alto Team. Palo Alto presented a very young team with 10-year old phenom Lily Zhang and high school student Colleen Lee to go along with James Guo, who is a teenager himself. Zhang is very talented and her foot quickness is a huge asset for her table-tennis game. Lee has had a very irregular practice schedule because of the amount of time she has had to put into her studies at Palo Alto High School. Concord presented the lineup of Philip Lim, James Therriault, and Thinh Mac.
Thinh Mac (Concord) vs Lily Zhang (Palo Alto)
Is Zhang still some years away from being competitive with the average league player? The results of this match pointed to that as Zhang was dominated in all aspects of the game, especially on serve and return. She lost the first two games at 11-2 and 11-3. She did get to 5-5 in the third but Mac soon pulled away with a 11-7 win. Zhang will be competitive in making the US Cadet National Team at the Trials this December in Las Vegas. If she makes it, she would only be the second 10-year old to make that team after teammate Ariel Hsing.
James Therriault (Concord) vs James Guo (Palo Alto)
James Guo had just come back from Portland and played this match. He goes ahead 7-2 in the first game with Therriault's only 2 points coming from Guo serve return errors. However, Guo loses 6 straight points to go behind 8-7. Guo recovers to win 11-8 and dominates the rest of the match. Guo's attacks were simply too strong for Therriault and Guo would move him in and out. Therriault had big problems trying to lob Guo's powerful loops. The team match stands at 1-1 now.
Philip Lim (Concord) vs Colleen Lee (Palo Alto)
In the opener, Lim serves many long serves with topspin that kick out at Colleen Lee. Lee has big problems trying to return those serves and Lim serve returns very well, especially with his flips. Lee is primarily serving long to Lim's backhand and middle area. Lim drives balls with his backhand into the lefty Colleen Lee's forehand for winners. With Lim up 2-0 in games, Lee starts playing more to Lim's wide forehand, especially with her serves. With the help of Philip Lim errors, it 11-7 works. Lee goes up 2-0 in the fourth only to see Lim run off 9 straight points. Lim wins a relatively comfortable 3-1 match.
Philip Lim/James Therriault (Concord) vs James Guo/Colleen Lee (Palo Alto)
The opening game is tied at 8-8 before Concord wins 11-8. Palo Alto's Lee is making errors in the second so helps Concord go up 7-2, 10-6 only to see the score tighten to 10-9. However, Guo then misses a high but spinny chop and Concord is up 2-0. Concord has 2 match points in the third game with a 10-8 lead but Palo Alto deuces it. At 10-10, Palo Alto wins a good point and then at 11-10, a simple mistake by Lim gives Palo Alto the game. Palo Alto carries the positive momentum into the fourth game and goes up 7-2 but after serve return errors from Lee, Concord makes a comeback bid that ends up falling short. The match goes to 9-9 in the fifth but who would have guessed that the strongest player in the match, James Guo, ends up being the goat as he makes 2 forehand loop errors. Concord is now up 3-1 in the league match.
Thinh Mac (Concord) vs James Guo (Palo Alto)
Thinh Mac is simply swinging in this opening game and makes about 5 backhand loop winners. James Guo escapes with a 12-10 win. Guo wins the second game more comfortably and if he loses a point, it is usually because of a heavy push from Mac. Guo wins the third game 11-8 to complete his second 3-0 win of the night. Mac played very well this match but Guo is a level above him.
James Therriault (Concord) vs Colleen Lee (Palo Alto)
Lee has nowhere near the power that Guo has and Therriault is able to lob much more effectively this match. Therriault goes up 8-2 in the opening game with Lee's only 2 points coming from Therriault serve return errors. As long as Therriault keeps the ball in play, Lee ends up making mistakes. This match ends 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 in favor of Therriault and Lee simply is not able to generate the racket speed that the more powerful men such as James Guo has. If Therriault is able to lob about 3 balls back, it is usually enough for him to win the point especially if he puts heavy topspin on the lobs.
Palo Alto hopes to have the services of Auria Malek in their future league matches who was unavailable for this match because of his brother's birthday and missed the first match because of a family outing. Trevor Runyan will help Concord's chances to win the league title but was unable to play tonight.