Mississippi College Table Tennis Team Wins Georgia Division Tournament
Mississippi College’s extraordinary table tennis team finished No. 1 as the Choctaws made their debut in a Georgia Division tournament Saturday.
It was skill, not luck that made the difference as MC left the Lucky Shoals Community Center as the champs. Georgia Tech finished 2nd and Georgia came in third place.
The biggest shining moment during the tournament in metro Atlanta happened when MC standout Yichi Zhang edged University of Georgia sensation Tom Feng in their men’s singles finale. Feng played on Team USA’s table tennis squad in the Olympics earlier this year.
Down 2 games to 1, Zhang, a Mississippi College senior, stayed cool under pressure. He fought back with his barrage of high serves, and exceptional returns to win the match 3 games to 2.
A computer science major from China, Zhang is playing his final season for the Blue & Gold in 2016-17. He emerged as North America’s men’s singles player at the 2016 championships in Round Rock, Texas. Last March, MC’s team finished in 2nd place at the tournament in the Lone Star State, narrowly losing to champion Texas Wesleyan University.
“Yichi never lets the pressure get inside his head,” said Andy Kanengiser, MC’s table tennis sponsor. “He’s made amazing comebacks before to win crucial matches. Yichi is always tough to beat no matter what the circumstances are.”
A native of China, where table tennis is the national sport, Feng attended middle school and high school in Texas and Georgia.
Other Mississippi College players, Tong Zhang, Qing Wei Sun, both natives of China, and Jeremy Gore of Walnut Ridge, Arkansas did their part to propel the Choctaws to the team victory in Norcross, Georgia on October 22. A former star as an MC player for four years, Cheng Li serves as the squad’s coach.
Auburn, Mississippi State University, the University of Alabama-Birmingham, and Georgia Gwinnett College rounded out the field of seven schools at the tournament.
MC started its 10th season of table tennis. In previous years, the Choctaws played in the Dixie Division. But this season, the university moved to a division six hours away due to a lack of teams competing in Dixie.
Georgia Tech and Georgia are usually the top teams in the Peach State division. This year, “MC will probably dominate,” Feng said. “They have three pretty good players.”
Having Mississippi College join the Georgia Division this year should strengthen the level of competition, added the 19-year-old business major. “That is good.”
National Collegiate Table Tennis Association President Willy Leparulo says they assign only up to six schools compete in one division. Having more than that, he said, becomes hard to manage.
Mississippi State, and the University of Alabama-Birmingham are the two other former Dixie members now in the Georgia Division. MC, MSU, and UAB return to metro Atlanta for the spring divisional tournament in February. The NCTTA regionals will be in Fort Worth, Texas and the national championships are booked for Eau Claire, Wisconsin in April 2017.
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