FREMONT AT CONCORD-SUNDAY, JANUARY 28, 2007

By Philip Lim and Shashin Shodhan

Concord is in the playoff hunt where as Fremont is eliminated.  If looking at the rosters, most people would point to the Concord Cheetahs who would have the best chance of upsetting the mighty Oakland Lions.  Concord ace Trevor Runyan has beaten Oakland ace Freddie Gabriel many times in practice and Gabriel is on top of the singles, doubles, and team standings this league season.  Concord presents their top three in this match with Philip Lim and James Therriault rounding out the Concord team.  Fremont plays with Shashin Shodhan, Ankur Patel, and Nandu Iyer who is playing his first league match.

Ankur Patel (Fremont) vs James Therriault (Concord)

Ankur Patel is one of the Bay Area’s rising juniors and stands nearly 6 feet tall. One would never guess that he’s only 15. His opponent, James Therriault, is one of the league's masters at spin deception, change of pace, lobbing, and defense.  Patel will have to muster up quite an effort to defeat Therriault.  Therriault pulls away in the opener with constant variation between spin and no-spin chops.  Patel plays patiently but Therriault's variation in spins proves too much for Patel to overcome.  The same trend follows in the second game as Therriault cruises to a 11-4 win.  In the third, however, Patel starts adding drop shots to his arsenal and it works as he leads 8-7.  However, Therriault wins the next three points to go up 10-8 and wins two points later at 11-9.  Concord is up 1-0.

Shashin Shodhan (Fremont) vs Trevor Runyan (Concord)

This match features the veteran Shashin Shodhan whose consistency will be tested by the youthful and explosive attack of Trevor Runyan.  Game 1 starts with Runyan being aggressive to open with a 6-1 lead.  Shodhan starts coming back but loses 11-8.  Shodhan plays more aggressively in the second game and tries to slow the pace of the match down.  He falls behind early in this game as well but wins 4 points in a row at the end to go to deuce where Runyan prevails.  Shodhan then starts focusing less on strategy and instead, more on playing with more energy and starts bouncing around between points.  It pays off as Shodhan wins 11-5.  In the fourth game, Runyan is popping up Shodhan's no-spin serves and Shodhan continues to bounce around and is up 9-5.  However, Runyan pulls off 5 straight points to go up match point but Shodhan counterloops a winner to deuce it.  Then Shodhan serves a winner and rips a serve return winner to send the match to the fifth and final game.  Shodhan loops, counterloops, and blocks his way to a 4-0 lead in the decider...and yes, he is still bouncing around.  However, Runyan goes on a 10-4 run and has 2 match points at 10-8 but Shodhan wins the next two points using a Primorac-style backhand serve from the middle of the table.  Runyan goes on to have match points at 11-10, 12-11, and 13-12 but Shodhan saves them all and has one of his own at 14-13 but like Runyan, is unable to convert.  Runyan finally converts on his sixth match point on a short serve return to win 16-14 and Concord is now up 2-0 in this team match.

Narasimhan Iyer (Fremont) vs Philip Lim (Concord)

Philip Lim’s pips-out blocking and consistent play are too much for Narasimham (nicknamed Nandu) Iyer who is forcing shots. 11-1 game 1 to Lim. In game 2, Iyer is still forcing his attacks but not as much as in game 1. Lim is blocking and waiting for opportunities to counter attack and smash winners. Game 2 to Lim 11-3. Iyer adjusts in game 3 and uses more pushes and blocks in the game. However, it is not enough and Philip takes game 3 11-9. Concord is now up 3-0.

Shashin Shodhan/Ankur Patel (Fremont) vs Trevor Runyan/James Therriault (Concord)

Shodhan and Patel had a bad loss to Henry Sit and Wilson Tsao of Mountain View in their first league match playing doubles together.  However, they beat that same team the second time they played and their results are much improved in other matches.  Patel must play steady in this match if Fremont is to pull the upset.  Fremont does dominate the serve and receive in the first two games and surprisingly, goes ahead 2-0.  However, at this point, Runyan and Therriault change the strategy and do not have the same serve return mistakes that haunted them in the first two games.  Concord comfortably wins the next three games and shuts out Fremont 4-0 in this team match.