By Lauren Nguyen, Staff Writer
On the final day of the singles’ and doubles’ ping pong tournament, seniors Eric Dalton and Jason Tran and freshmen Brian Ton and Benjamin Nguyen, brought their best shots in effort to be crowned the ping-pong victor. Both intense back and forth matches, the singles’ match ended with a score of 21-15 while the doubles’ match ended with a score of 21-14. Singles’ player Eric Dalton won by six points while doubles’ team Tran and Dalton, The Second Place Rejects, won by seven points.
The doubles’ final between team B&B, Nguyen and Ton, and the Second Place Rejects succeeded the singles’ final between Dalton and Tran. The Second Place Rejects made the first serve and the ball was hit back and forth until it flew off the table.
Throughout the game, the score quickly escalated as the ball often was hit off the table by both teams.
The Rejects notably swung hard while B&B seemed to go for a more calculated tactic. With a score of 9-5, B&B appeared to gain momentum as they scored three consecutive points. The Rejects, however, ended their opposing team’s streak by gaining two additional points, making the score 11-8.
At half point, The Rejects held a narrow three point lead with the score 13-10.
A serve from the Rejects was received by B&B who sent it back to their opponents. The confrontation flew over the next six times before B&B narrowly sent the ball under the net to give a point to The Rejects.
At 17-11, B&B again seemed to regain strength, accompanied by the crowd’s cheers of excitement calling for their comeback. Both the teams advanced the score to 18-14, The Rejects still holding onto the lead.
With a few more shots by both teams, the B&B comeback falls short and the doubles’ tournament ended with Dalton and Tran champions and Ton and Nguyen the runner-ups.
“I’m like happy with how far we’ve gone, like to the finals—that’s good enough for me. Although it’s unfortunate that we didn’t win, I’m still pretty satisfied,” said Nguyen.
The singles’ match was offset with a succinct game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who would serve first. Tran began the game with a careful cross-court serve and gained the first point. The crowd became increasingly loud as the players sharpened their focus.
A shot from Dalton bounced the ball just off the of the table and Tran was unable to receive it. Between a few shots, Tran was again unable to catch a ball speeding across the table sent by Dalton and the score became 7-6. The tables turned when a smash of the ball from Tran went unreceived by Dalton and the score became tied.
Still tied at 9-9, Dalton served again and gained another point. The players had the onlookers at the edge of the benches as they sent the ball back and forth with a series of careful motions. However, the trance was broken by Tran, who sent the ball off the table.
With Dalton in the lead 14-10, the players each took a few bad shots: a serve by Dalton failed to make it over the net while Tran continued to hit the ball off the table.
ASB’s panel of judges called for cheers to encourage the players. Tran attempted to close the score gap of the scores and gained an aditional five points. However, the match ended when Dalton smashed the ball across the table and earned the game point.
“It was just fun. I just had a really fun time, I wasn’t nervous or anything,” said Dalton.
