PALO ALTO AT MOUNTAIN VIEW-FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2006

By Mark Johnson

It was the first rematch of the young season when the Mountain View Marauders hosted the Palo Alto Assassins. The Marauders had blanked the Assassins 4-0 in the very first match of the season at Palo Alto --- in fact not losing a game in any of those matches.

However, Palo Alto's big three of James Guo, Sara Fu, and Auria Malek did not play in that tie. And neither will they play in this tie. Palo Alto is represented by Dave Samuelson, Wayne Lo, and 10-year old phenom Lily Zhang (replacing the other 10-year old phenom Ariel Hsing who had played in the earlier tie). Not wanting to upset a good thing, Mountain View is represented by the same three players --- USATT Junior Boys team hopeful Sean Lee, Joey Hu, and Michael Sung.

Wayne Lo (Palo Alto) vs. Joey Hu (Mountain View)

This match involves two players that play a similar close to the table blocking and hitting game --- the difference being that Wayne Lo plays with short pimpled rubber while Joey Hu plays with inverted sponge rubber. They did not meet in the earlier tie. In this match, Hu recovers from an early 2-1 deficit in the first game to take a 10-5 lead.  Lo makes a game of it by taking the next three points, but Hu closes it out 11-9. But Lo takes momentum from that late surge into the next game and wins it handily 11-5. But Hu has been playing passively, content with pushes that let Lo in with the opening hit. Come On, you have got to be more aggressive he exhorts himself as the third game opens. He does just that by using what is probably the best smash in Northern California much more frequently to take the next two games 11-4 and 11-5 and the first match of this tie 3-1.

Dave Samuelson (Palo Alto) vs. Sean Lee (Mountain View)

These two met in the previous tie with Sean Lee coming out on top. In fact, Sean Lee has been quite the thorn in Samuelson's side in USATT sanctioned tournaments. They met in back-to-back U2000 finals in 2004 at the San Francisco Summer Open and the Western Open with Sean Lee coming out on top 11-9 in the fifth in the former and 11-8 in the fifth in the latter. Even though both have improved since then, it has been the younger Sean Lee that has improved more dramatically as evidenced in part by his 3-0 victories in their more recent matches at the Western Open and the US Nationals in 2005.

It appears to be more of the same in this match as Sean Lee is able to consistently open first and takes the first game 11-5 and leads the second 10-6. But Samuelson recovers in dramatic fashion by winning some spectacular forehand counter looping rallies along with the help of some service return errors from Lee to get to deuce. It looks like Lee has righted the ship when he wins the next point to get another game point at 11-10 but Samuelson takes the next three points to win the game 13-11 to even this match at 1-1. If Sean Lee is to prevail in this match, he will have to improve his play in the longer rallies or limit the points that reach that point with a higher quality finishing shot. He appears to have done that when he wins the third game 11-5 and is serving up 10-8 in the fourth game. He then puts in a strong third ball attack forehand loop into Samuelson's body to appear to end this match only to have Samuelson make a nearly impossible move to step around it and whack in his own forehand loop into the corner for a winner. Is this game two all over again? No it isn't as Lee calmly serves and attacks again on the next point and this time Samuelson has no answer so Lee wins the game 11-9 and this match 3-1 so Mountain View now leads the tie 2-0. 

Lily Zhang (Palo Alto) vs. Michael Sung (Mountain View)

This match is quite a contrast --- not only in size but also in styles. The strength of Michael Sung's game is his powerful forehand loop which he can take advantage with surprisingly good footwork for his size. On the other hand, Lily Zhang has great quickness at the table that allows her to get to nearly every ball and excellent consistency, pace, and direction in her off-the-bounce backhands. 

Sung is content to play a more passive game and takes advantage of his service and backhand block to win the first game 11-7. However, Zhang improves her service return and countering in the second game and wins it 13-11. Zhang remains the aggressor the rest of the match but primarily through a combination of some inconsistency in her step around forehands and a few forehand loop kills from Sung, it is Sung who takes the next two games 11-7 and 11-9 and the match 3-1 so Mountain View leads the tie 3-0.

Lily Zhang/Dave Samuelson (Palo Alto) vs. Joey Hu/Michael Sung (Mountain View)

Two new doubles combinations for this match but the team of Joey Hu and Michael Sung prove to be a bit too steady.  The team of Lily Zhang and Dave Samuelson improve throughout only to fall in three straight 11-5, 11-8, and 11-9 and Mountain View triumphs in the tie 4-0.

The Palo Alto Assassins record drops to 1-4 while the Mountain View Marauders remain undefeated improving to 3-0 and sharing the top spot with the Oakland Lions.