CONCORD AT MOUNTAIN VIEW-FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 2007
By Mark Johnson
The Mountain View Marauders
attempted to maintain their perfect record as they hosted the Concord Cheetahs.
However, this would be tough since the Marauders
were without their ace --- undefeated Sean Lee --- for this match and the Cheetahs
were led in this match by USATT Junior Boys member Trevor Runyan as well as
Philip Lim.
Michael DeWynter (Concord) vs. Wilson Tsao (Mountain
View)
The opening match
was between two players making their singles debut this season.
Micheal DeWynter plays out of the Sacramento area and thus had traveled
quite a distance to play in this his inaugural match.
He plays with “normal” inverted sponge on his forehand and anti on
his backhand. Wilson Tsao is an all-around two-winged looper.
Michael jumped out on top the first game 2-0, but Wilson won the next
five points and held on to win the first game 11-9.
Michael’s style of flipping and hitting short pushes with his anti can
be effective against some players that are not used to it, but the control and
consistency of Wilson’s loops generally won out --- even when Michael pulled
out another weapon by chopping with the anti far from the table. It
was more of the same in the next two games as Wilson gets more familiar with
Michael’s style and wins each with identical scores of 11-7 to take the first
match 3-0. The Marauders
take a 1-0 lead in the tie.
Trevor Runyan (Concord) vs. Henry Sit (Mountain View)
Henry Sit is also
playing his inaugural singles match this season as he takes on USA Junior Boys
team member Trevor Runyan in the next match.
Surprisingly, he takes a lead early on but Trevor slowly reels him in to
take the first game 11-9. Trevor
continues to heat up and dominates the next game 11-3.
But Henry is not without fight and takes the next game to deuce before
Trevor wins it at 12-10 to take the match 3-0 and even up the tie at 1-1.
Philip Lim (Concord) vs. Kyna Fong (Mountain View)
Kyna Fong is also
playing her inaugural match this season as she takes on Philip Lim.
This is a real contrast in styles between Kyna’s two-winged inverted
sponge looping and Philip’s short pips penhold hitting.
This match proves to be a tight one early as Kyna eaks out a 12-10
nail-biter in the first game only to lose the next two by identical scores of
11-9. Kyna fights to get the match
to a fifth game and succeeds with a narrow 11-8 win in the fourth game --- only
to see Philip dominate from the start to win the fifth and deciding game 11-3.
This was a very critical outcome. The
Cheetahs now lead the tie
Trevor Runyan/Aaron Castillo (Concord) vs. Wilson Tsao/Henry
Sit (Mountain View)
In a move that
surprises the Marauders, Aaron
Castillo instead of Philip Lim teams up with Trevor Runyan in the doubles for
the Cheetahs.
They face the Marauders team of Wilson Tsao and Henry Sit --- who already have
tasted victory against the Fremont Flash
in their only previous match of the season. The Marauders pair
have a great start in the first game only to have the Cheetahs come roaring back before barely holding on for an 11-9 win.
The Marauders appear to be in excellent shape to go up 2-0 when they are
serving 9-9 in the second game with Aaron Castillo (whose rating is by far the
lowest of the four players) receiving --- only Aaron rips two awesome service
return winners to take the game 11-9 and even the match at 1-1.
The Cheetahs appear to have
wrestled control of the match when they go up 8-4 in the third game only to see
the Marauders fight back to even it up
at 9-9 --- although the Cheetahs are
serving. Only Aaron serves
the next point out and then Henry rips a service return winner of his own and
thus it is the Marauders who lead the
match 2-1 heading into the fourth game. Again
the Cheetahs get out strong and lead
8-2 but once again the Marauders fight
back to tie it at 9-9 and actually have a match point at 11-10 before Aaron
saves it with a net. But that
reprieve is only temporary as it isn’t long before Wilson gets his own net to
win the game 13-11 and thus the match 3-1.
The tie is now all even at 2-2.
Trevor Runyan (Concord) vs. Wilson Tsao (Mountain View)
This is a match
between Trevor’s two-winged power looping game and Wilson’s more controlled
two-winged looping game. Even
though Wilson’s play improves somewhat throughout the match, he has a
difficult time answering Trevor’s power and technique
Philip Lim (Concord) vs. Henry Sit (Mountain View)
The Cheetahs
look to close out the tie with the heavily favored Philip Lim.
But Henry has a strong start
and actually leads the first game 8-5 before losing the next four points so
Philip ends up winning it 11-9. The
second game is also close with Henry serving at 8-10 hoping to win both his
service points and get to deuce. Only
instead he serves out and now Philip leads the match 2-0.
Concord is now just a single game from winning the tie.
But it will not be the third game of this match as Henry roars to a 7-1
lead and the players trade points after that so Henry wins the third game 11-5.
Henry is out to another great start in the fourth game and once again
leads 7-1. Only Philip roars
back himself and trails only 8-7
before Henry misses serve to even it up at 8-8.
Wilson calls time out to try and stem the tide but Philip wins the next
point to lead 9-8 and now the Cheetahs
are just two points from winning the tie. But
Henry wins Philip’s next service point with a net to tie it back up at 9-9 and
then wins both of his own service points to take the game 11-9 and even the
match at 2-2. In the fifth and
deciding game Henry gets a critical net to lead 4-2 and the score is 5-3 in the Marauders
favor when the two players switch sides. Henry
extends the lead to 6-3 before Trevor calls time out.
But the two players only trade points after this so Henry eventually wins
the game 11-7 and the match 3-2. The
tie is once again all even --- this time at 3-3.
For the first time this season, the Marauders
will play in the seventh match of a tie.
Michael DeWynter (Concord) vs. Kyna Fong (Mountain View)
Going by ratings
alone, one would favor Kyna in this match.
But as was mentioned previously, Michael’s style can prove to be
difficult to two-winged loopers like Kyna at first.
Then the question becomes can the looper adjust to this different style
quick enough. Kyna’s game is
similar to that of Wilson but also includes a backhand punch that she can use to
good effect. Kyna is able to
control this match by limiting her errors and getting out in front early in each
game and holds on each time to win it in three straight.
The Mountain View Marauders
record improves to a perfect 4-0 while the Concord Cheetahs
fall to 2-3.