The UCLA Table Tennis team traveled to Austin, Texas this weekend to take on the best in the country in their sport. There were 40 total teams in attendance and close to 200 athletes. The Bruins brought a Women's team and a Co-Ed team. Within the event there are three different competitions for the athletes: Singles, Doubles and Team events. Play starts out as a Round Robin for the Singles event and Team event while those that are competing in Doubles go straight into a single elimination tournament. The top two in each pool will enter a single elimination tournament for both the Singles and Team events. Those that are unable to emerge from their respective pools as the top two will be entered into a consolation bracket. Coming into the event the UCLA Men were ranked 13th in the country and the UCLA Women were ranked 8th in the country.

On Day 1, there was a lot of action as all three events were on display. Two Bruins on the men's side, David Zeng and Nathaniel Chu, were able to emerge from their pools to enter the single elimination bracket which would happen on Saturday. David, the 27th ranked player in the men's tournament, cruised to two victories on Friday winning both 3 games to 0. Unfortunately he was unable to overcome his opponent, Austin Preiss from Lindenwood, as he lost 3-1. Nathaniel Chu had the same success in his pool as he unfortunately dropped his first match, but was able to return to form and win his last two matches of the day. Two Bruins competed in the Women's Singles as well. Isabel Chu placed out of the pool play competition because she was the #5 ranked player in this weekend event. Haolin Fang was the other women to enter the event, but she was unable to emerge from pool play after dropping her first two matches and winning her final match. She finished as the top seed in the consolation bracket because of her play on Friday. The other male to enter the singles event for the Bruins was the #56 ranked player Tiziano Aiello. Tiziano was unfortunately struggling with his backhand most of the day and could never get anything going. He dropped his first two matches and won his third. He was placed in the consolation bracket as well which was to start on Saturday.

In doubles, the Bruins had three teams competing. On the women's side, Haolin Fang and Isabel Chu were the 5th ranked team in the event. They won their first match in straight sets 11-6, 11-5 and 11-4 to move into the quarterfinals against a very tough Wisconsin duo. They lost their match against Wisconsin in 5 sets. After dropping the first two games they battled back to win the next two games but ultimately lost in the 5th game (11-4, 11-3, 5-11, 4-11, 11-3). This ended their day for the doubles competition. The men had two teams compete in the doubles competition in #17 Nathaniel Chu/David Zeng and #27 Tiziano Aiello/Quince Ko. Chu/Zeng faced off against the #10 seed Lindenwood in the first round and were bounced in straight sets 11-6, 11-6 and 11-9. Their day in doubles was over unless they were needed in the team portion of the event. Aiello/Ko faced the #1 seed and eventual champion from Texas Wesleyan. The duo was overmatched in this matchup and was unable to set-up any kind of momentum as they lost 11-4, 11-3, and 11-4.

In the team format, the Bruins had two teams competing one on the Co-Ed side and one on the Women's side. Both teams had the #1 seed in their pools so they had a tall task in front of them but they just needed to finish in the top two teams. The co-ed team was unable to get much going in their first match up against Texas Wesleyan as they were only able to muster a win in 1 game while losing all four singles matches. They fought hard and were close in the games but could not pull any of them out. The doubles match did not need to be played in this matchup. Next up, the team of N. Chu, Zeng, Ko and I. Chu took on Northwestern and were able to win all four of their singles matches which made the doubles match unnecessary. Finally in order to advance from their pool they had to beat the higher ranked McMaster team. The team of DZeng, N. Chu, Aiello, and I. Chu came out firing early and often and were able to win one of the first two matches leaving Zeng and I. Chu to wrap it up and not have to play doubles. Neither of them struggled throughout their matches as Zeng won in straight sets and Isabel won three straight sets after losing the first. Next up for the co-ed team was the bracket on Sunday. The Women's Team made up of I. Chu, Fang, Stephanie Dong, Jingling Nie and Catherine Cheng was able to win their first match-up against FIT in straight set wins by Chu, Fang and Nie while Dong was the lone loss. Next up for the Bruins was the #1 seed Texas Wesleyan. The Bruins led by Chu and Cheng were able to win a couple of early games but could not win any matches as they lost to Texas Wesleyan 4-0. The girls would wrap up their pool play the next morning against Iowa needing a victory to seal their bid to the single elimination bracket. They easily defeated Iowa by a score of three matches to 1 and were now destined to reach the playoffs.

On day 2, all singles events took place for both the Championship Bracket and the Consolation Bracket. In the Consolation Bracket Haolin Fang received a first round bye and was able to win her first match over Nan Gao from Texas Dallas in straight sets 12-10, 11-7, 11-6. Next up she would play another person from Texas Dallas in Najia Zhao. Unfortunately for Fang she was unable to get over the hump against Zhao and lost in 4 sets (11-7,11-7, 9-11, 11-8). It was a whole new day for Aiello in the Consolation Bracket as he breezed through his competition only dropping 3 sets in four matches on his way to the final. He faced Bektemir Ysmailov from Nebraska in the final yesterday and he quickly dispatched of him only losing one set in en route to winning the Consolation Bracket (14-2, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6). In the Men's Championship Bracket, Zeng faced a tough opponent in Roger Rao from Duke as they traded sets during the match until Rao pulled out the victory in the 5th set (11-5, 7-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-6). Nathaniel Chu would face off against Austin Preiss in the first round. If that name sounds familiar, well he was in the same pool as David Zeng. Chu would have the same problems as Zeng did during his matchup against Preiss. Chu found it very difficult to mount any offense against Preiss and lost in straight sets (11-8, 11-6, 11-8). Isabel Chu would have a bye in the first round of the Championshjp Bracket for the Women and would face off against Maria Castillo of Wisconsin in the Round of 16. Chu found some difficulty in the first set against Castillo and fell 6-11, however she was able to rebound in the second set by winning 14-12 and more comfortably in both the third and fourth sets 11-6 and 11-7 respectively. Next up for Chu in the Quarterfinals was #2 seed from Columbia Neha Aggarwal the former Indian National Team Player. Chu struggled in the match to figure out Aggarwal's serve and could never really mount any offense until the final game. Unfortunately for Chu that wasn't enough as she lost in straight sets (5-11, 3-11, 13-15).

Overall through two days of competition the Bruins have acquitted themselves quite well against the nation's best players. A number of the schools here recruit their athletes and offer scholarships. It is tough to go up against that and the Bruins did well to finish where they did in each of the events. The team competitions will conclude on Sunday. Check back for our recap of Sunday.
Please check back for more photos of the event.