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Mississippi College Wins 2014 Dixie Division Tournament


Mississippi College table tennis player Jun Yu Xiao, table tennis coach Ken Qiu, players Zescheng Huang and Joe Xie, Vice President for Academic Affairs Ron Howard, and players Tyler Brogdon, Yichi Zhang, and Cheng Li. Front row: assistant table tennis coach coach Johnson Liang.

Mississippi College’s nationally ranked table tennis team triumphed at Saturday’s Dixie Division tournament on the Clinton campus.

New players combined with skilled MC veterans to seal the victory at Alumni Gym over teams like Tulane, Alabama-Birmingham, West Florida, Alabama-Huntsville and Mississippi State University.

The Dixie Division championship trophy has remained in MC’s hands the past few years.

MC coach Ken Qiu commended the players for another “wonderful performance” at the fast-moving games that ran from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. “The tournament result was expected and we remain on the right track.”

New players like Jun Yu Xiao, Yichi Zhang, Zesheng Huang and Tyler Brogdon, a former member of the university’s cross country team, joined returning players like Joe Xie and Cheng Li to propel the Choctaws to another win.

President Lee Royce and his wife, Rhoda, Vice President for Academic Affairs Ron Howard, and MC Law Dean Jim Rosenblatt were part of the team’s cheering section.

Next up for the MC team that was ranked No. 2 in North America the past two seasons is a U.S. Table Tennis Association tournament in New Orleans this Saturday.

That will be followed by a February 22 exhibition at half-time of the MC men’s basketball game that begins at 3 p.m. at the A.E. Wood Coliseum.

Mississippi College’s team faces its toughest test of the year in the March 1 National Collegiate Table Tennis Association regional tournament in Atlanta. Perennial national champion Texas Wesleyan will likely face the Choctaws. Based in Fort Worth, the Texas Wesleyan coed table tennis team has won the national championship for ten consecutive years.

The top two teams in the South region are expected to advance to the 2014 national championships in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, from April 3-5.

MC has played in the national championship games every year since the program began on the Clinton campus in 2007-2008.