Mississippi College Repeats as Dixie Division Table Tennis Winner

President Lee Royce joins Mississippi College Table Tennis Team players and supporters at the February 7 Dixie Division tournament at Alumni Gym.

The Dixie Division Table Tennis title crown remains in Mississippi College’s hands.

Led by three star players from China, MC easily prevailed at the February 7 tournament at Alumni Gym.

Coach and captain Cheng Li, Yichi Zhang and newcomer Tong Zhang went undefeated and led the way to repeat as Dixie champs before a nice turnout of fans Saturday.  They are the top three men’s singles players in the division.

Returning from Fall semester studies in China, Tyler Brogdan of Birmingham, Alabama also racked up some wins on the Clinton campus to help his Mississippi College table tennis teammates.

President Lee Royce and Vice President for Academic Affairs Ron Howard were among the fans applauding the winning Choctaws. Others in the crowd included coaches from the Brookhaven High School table tennis club. Players from the new Brandon Table Tennis Club also watched the action.

The University of West Florida finished in 2^nd place and the Pensacola team is expected to join MC in the South regional tournament in Texas later this month. Other teams at the Dixie tournament at MC included the Mississippi State University Bulldogs and University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.

“It was another high-quality performance by the MC Choctaws,” said Andy Kanengiser, the team’s sponsor. “No doubt, the toughest test of the season comes February 21-22 when MC faces perennial No. 1 Texas Wesleyan University in the regionals on the road in Fort Worth.”

Texas Wesleyan seeks its 12^th straight coed team national championship.

Coached by Jasna Rather, Texas Wesleyan’s won the coed team and women’s team competition at the Texas Divisional tournament over the weekend.

Texas Wesleyan stars Emil Santos of the Dominican Republic, Zhe Feng of Shanghai, China and freshman Jason Plog of Germany finished a strong 1-2-3 in men’s singles at the event. Anastasia Rhbka, a TWU player from Kiev, Ukraine finished in 2^nd place in women’s singles.

The University of Texas-Dallas finished No. 2 with its coed and women’s teams.

Mississippi College seeks to return to the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association’s championship games in Eau Claire, Wisconsin April 10-12. MC is in its 8^th season of collegiate table tennis. There are more than 150 college table tennis teams across the USA and Canada.