OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Well both my TT night's are going well so far this season, 3 weeks in.

On Monday nights, we have won 3 from 3, albeit fairly close ones. 6-5 wins the first 2 nights and a 7-4 this week. I have won 7 from 9 singles, with a flat week of only one win in the 2nd week, but 3 on the other 2 nights. I played an arch nemesis last Monday who has had the wood on me the last couple of years and I got him 11-9 in the 5th. Thing is I'd never beaten him in 5 before. He'd beaten me 3 or 4 times 11-8/11-9 in the 5th. I'd only ever beaten him in 3 or 4 before when it seemed he was a bit disinterested. So this win was when he was really going all out...felt like a good achievement...especially as we don't have the best of rapport with each other So, our Monday night record has us currently 2nd on the ladder.

On Thursday nights, I haven't lost a singles match and have beaten some peopleI either had never beaten before or hadn't beaten in years. Consequently, I'm sitting on leading player one ahead of a friend and ex-teammate who lost his first last night. I can't say the same for my teammate who has been doing it tougher than usual even though we dropped a grade. He didn't win a singles last week (losing to a very weak opponent and a very strong one) and we lost doubles so we went down 3-2. This has hurt our ladder position, which was top after our first week's 4-1 win. After 2 weeks we were 4th, but we won 4-1 last night, so may be back to 3rd I think. So long as we keep winning we should creep back into 2nd and hopefully then make the final. A long way to go though, so just have to keep our heads down and keep the wins coming.

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

This week's TT rolled on with mainly positive notes. We beat the top team on Monday 6-5, to become the top team ourselves. The only negative of the night was I lost my first match 3-1. I think the problem was I won the first set 11-4 and as it was against a guy who I almost never lose to, I relaxed too much. Actually I've only lost to this guy 2 or 3 times before out of maybe 25 or more meetings, and usually there has been some kind of physical issue restricting my play more than usual. But on Monday I think I just went into auto mode thinking I'd get him. Trouble is his form has lifted (he's leading player on 100% ) and he just hit attack after attack that didn't miss. Before I knew it I'd lost it.

However, beyond that, the night went well. My teamies won a match each and I won my next 2 singles. The 2nd of those, was when we were 5-4 up and with 2 matches to go one of us had to win. I was first to play and totally blitzed my opponent 11-4, 11-2, 11-7 So I secured the night for us, and lucky I did as my teamy went down 11-9 in the 5th to the guy I lost to first up. But we'd won both doubles for the first time in the season which helps the score along a lot. So we are 4 from 4 wins on the ladder and the only team who hasn't lost. The wins may be narrow (3 x 6/5 wins and 1 x 7/4), but its all you need. I must admit I regret losing to the first guy as I'd be 10 from 12 and he'd be 11 from 12 and I'd have a show at catching him for leading player. Now at 9 from 12 and he being 12 from 12, that's probably not going to happen.


Thursday night (last night) is also going pretty well, although the structure of success is somewhat different to Mondays. We are either 2nd or 3rd on the ladder, not top (although we're hunting for it ). I haven't dropped a singles match and I'm the only person who hasn't, hence I am leading player at 8 wins from 8 singles matches.

Last night was our first 5-0 win for the season. It all came together for us finally, although I'd have to say it was probably also our weakest opponent so far this season. Having said that, they put up a reasonable fight in the doubles and were 2-1 up on us, but we prevailed for the rest of the sets and took it 4-2. In the singles, neither of us lost a set. In my first match, the last 2 sets, I was 7-0 up after winning the first 2 sets 11-3. But I got complacent and made a lot of errors in the last set and found myself fighting to win it. I took it 11-8 in the end. Maybe my subconscience just wanted a challenge?

Next week I face a guy who I often find hard to beat, so that may be quite a challenge for me. Although if you'd told me I'd be 100% at this point now, after who I have played...I'd have laughed and said "get out of here, what are you smoking"!

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

What a night! What a week!

Tonight I played a looper who has always given me trouble because his serve gives me a problem. Not a problem getting it back, but a problem in keeping it short and not giving him a loop shot that is either a winner or may set up a winner. I had gotten into rhythm of finding ways to beat him years ago, but then he stopped playing at my club. So I lost my "keep my hand in" opportunities against him. He's been back playing a few seasons on a Thursday, but I've either been in the division above, or he has been away on the nights we've been scheduled to play his team. The one time I played him in the last 4 years or so was maybe 9 months ago and I lost to him. So finally tonight was the night for another clash with him. I was still holding leading player for the season with 14 wins from 16 matches, just one match ahead of my nearest rival.

So I face up against him and I find I'm doing well handling him. I get out to a 9-5 lead and then he starts making all his shots. I go down 11-9 in the first set. My teammate mentions keeping it short to him, which is not easy, but I manage to do it better in the 2nd set and I win it 11-4. The 3rd set e takes measure to make even more difficult to keep the ball short and he wins it 11-7. I turn it around once more in the 4th and make 11-7 on him. Then things really ramp up and the match just kept lifting in level, length of rallies and tactics. We go to deuce in the 5th and he snares it 12-10. I have adrenalin pumping through meand I'm trying to create mega focus on each and every point. I'm 3-2 down and trying to ensure I don't ponder too deeply on what another lost set will do.

So we go into the 6th set. I'd been trying to vay around the table where to put one particular serve of his that more often than not, I return to his BH corner and he is there waiting to loop it down my FH line...a real point loser for me.Sending the ball down his FH line helps but its frought with the danger of going long. Of course, he also mixes some other serves in to keep me honest. Its yet another tight set and we reach deuce again. This time I take it out 12-10. 3 sets a piece!

Into the 7th and last set and he comes out blasting. He attacks any long or mid-length serve and his opener is generally good quality. He breaks out to 4-0 and things feel a little grim. However, he'd been out to 4-0 in an earlier set and I caught him at 4 all, so I'm focused on repeating that. I use his willingness to attack and set him up some BH attacks. His BH is fairly strong, so its a risk. But it pays off and I'm back to 4 all. He wins the next point and we change ends 5-4 his way. Then he takes the next, and the next and he's away to 7-4. Time to find something deep down... I start serving and returning into a short position into his FH. I manage to drop the ball in perfect spots where its just too short to loop even though he thinks its going to be long enough o he doesn't push/chisel the ball. I pick up 3 points in a row from this and its 7 all. We then go point for point. I'm trying to repeat the drop to his FH, but he's not going for it again and pushes when I do that. I pulled out 2 FH winners in this set and one of them ket me hanging in this at 9 all. He gets 10-9 and things feel desperate. One of the many chopblocks I drop over the net on him finally gets him looping the ball long and it brings up deuce. He hits a winner to get 11-10, I pull back 11 all. I serve him a topspin and get a FH attack that brings me to advantage, 12-11. The next point after a short rally, he mis-reads the spin from my pips to his BH and he nets it! I raised my arms in joyous victory like the guy in the Platoon movie (but 'm not on my knees )

We went on to win all our matches tonight, giving us a 5-0 win. Next week we play 3rd n the ladder (we are 2nd). Although we are way above them in rubbers, they have the same points as us. So if they beat us, they make the final. We beat them 4-1 last time we met, but there's no guarantee of repeating that. One of the guys is my ex-teammate who I beat last time we played for the first time in 3 years. The other guy I beat 4-0 last time, but he filled in for our opposition team last Monday....and that was another epic match in my week......

I beat him, but he almost had me on toast. The best of 5 match went 11-9, 11-3 (his way), 12-14, 12-14, 9-11 (my way). I'm just hoping when I play him next week, I can make it over the line on him again. He obviously worked out a lot between the only 2 matches we've ever played. If he makes the same inroads, I'm dead in the water and so might be my leading player and finals campaigns on Thursdays!

We did win on Monday. A narrow 6-5. We need a big win next Monday, or we might miss the final there. We're currently 3rd on that ladder, but a big win will lift us into 2nd or 1st in the last week (week 10). We play the team we beat 6-5 in the 1st round of the season (who are currently top). If we only win 6-5 again, we need another team (the 2nd team) to lose for us to make the final. If we win 8-3, we're in it no matter what. And a loss is, of course, unthinkable!

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Toga !! Toga !! Toga !!!

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Nexy Batos ALC - FH Tibhar MX-K - BH Tibhar FX-S
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Great report, and great result! Exciting stuff!

_________________
"When one eye is fixed upon your destination, there is only one eye left with which to find the Way."

Read my blog: "LordCope's Latest Learnings Log": http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=24452

Thanks LC...the adrenelin I had pumping through me confirms the excitement lol!

Tonight we had our final round of pennant before the finals next week. We were 3rd on the ladder and needed a 7-4 win against the 2nd team to go into a countback with them for a spot in the final. We started really badly, 3-0 down. We won the first doubles and then one of my teamies and then I won our next singles matches to get back to 3 all. Other teamy lost his next to be 4-3 don and we couldn't afford one more loss. We won the second doubles....we have been terrible at doubles this season and have barely won any, so winning 2 in the same night was a coup. The teamy with a game up his sleeve won his next 3-0 to a guy who beat him last time we met. My other teamy who'd only won the 2nd doubles with me scraped out of his match with 11-8 in the 5th set. So that just left me to play the last match, with only a possible finals berth riding on it....NO PRESSURE!

I broke out with good leads (like ~7-1) in the first 2 sets only to be pegged back by the guy and managed to close them out around 11-8 each. In the third set I made the same early lead but this time I just kept hammering, not letting myself relax. I got to 9-1, then 10-2 and 11-2. So we got into the countback, which we won! So we're in the A3 final next week giving us a chance to go back to A2 which we played in last season (we finished 5/8 but still got relegated due to a change in 1 team member).

So, hopefully I'm reporting on some finals wins next week (cos we are also vying for the final on Thursday night in A2).

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Fantastic! We have two matches against the same side tomorrow and Wednesday. The personnel will be slightly different, with my team favourite in Tuesday and theirs on Wednesday. It's against the people I practice with every Sunday, so they all know me very well! Fingers crossed for your A3 final!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

_________________
"When one eye is fixed upon your destination, there is only one eye left with which to find the Way."

Read my blog: "LordCope's Latest Learnings Log": http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=24452

Cheers mate. Good luck in your matches also

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

So, we have entered finals week at my club. And I have an appointment on both my TT nights. Tonight we play my Thursday night partner's team. We only played them once during the season and beat them 7-4. Of course I'd take the same result again, but no guarantees of that happening. Finals are always tough, and events where just about anything can happen. Pressure affects people in all sorts of ways. For some it lifts them above their normal, for others it cripples them into a sprawling mess. I've played (and won and lost) a lot of finals. I think I stand u to the pressure pretty well most finals matches these days simply by treating it like any other match and keeping my focus as high as possible. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Hopefully it will tonight.

On Thursday night, we made the final by winning against our challengers for the finals berth last week. If we'd been beaten then, we were out. But we won with a resounding 5-0 result, albeit some very tight matches. One of the matches I won 16-14 in the 7th, with several 11-9's and a 17-15 (which I won) set. I also ended up winning leading player on the Thursday night with a 90% win ratio. I'd never gotten that high a ratio for a season in the A2 grade before (or any equivalent Monday grade). So I was pretty happy with that. Now it would be lovely to cap off the season with a win in Thursday night's final as well as tonight's, but I won't count my chicken's before they hatch as there is some quality opposition to get through before either of those things come true.

As Arnie would say "I'll be back!" to tell how it all goes.

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

What a calamity tonight's final turned out to be. Have you ever just known something would have turned out differently if just one thing had changed that ended up bringing the whole plan unstuck? Well let me tell you how it unfolded. I plan a strategy for how to play our opponents tonight in terms of order. I text my teammates to let them in on it. One teammate who is always late to normal nights, just this once I wanted to turn up just 15 minutes earlier than usual, so he can play second instead of third. The plan was I'd play third as they'd usually expect me to play first. I knew the order the opposition would play in, and I thought a change in our order might set the cat among their pigeons. Trouble was instead of being 15 minutes early, my teammate turns up half an hour later than usual. This ended up having a massive impact on the way the night went.

My other teammate played first up against their usual no.1 and loses 3-1 to him. I then have to play their only other player who was their, who I was not due to play on the schedule until much later on. This is a young looper who has never taken a set from me before. But tonight his form is unlike what I've ever seen from him before.

He ambushes me in the first set with looping speed and accuracy like that of someone way higher than his level. And moreover, he has a backhand loop that is way better than ever before...in fact its a weapon tonight instead of the usual liability. Its like he's received a crash training course to raise his level since last I played him about 7 weeks ago. So he takes the first set 11-4. He just landed fast spinny loop after loop and no matter where I put the ball, and with whatever spin, he had an answer for it. And that's never been the case in the 10 times I've played him in the past.

So in the second set I lift my game, knowing he is a real threat. I tighten everything down and I change things to restrict his abilities to drill loops at me, and my pip blocking gets an instant sharpening. I close him down a lot from what I'd "let" him do in the first set. And it almost got me out of trouble. We went to deuce this time. In fact, he got to deuce courtesy of an edge that would otherwise have given me the set. I got 11-10, but he got a net drop to go 11 all. I couldn't take a trick. He closed me out at 13-11.

I further upped all my reflexes and tactics in the third set. I was getting pip blocks back from superfast loops that even amazed me. And what's worse, he was playing most of them properly with a lift, so I wasn't getting many points from him trying to loop again. This time though I pulled the set from him 11-8. But I was still shellshocked at how well he was playing. It was like I'd never played THIS kid before.

On we went to the 4th set and it seemed I may be taking it to a 5th set as I kept a narrow lead through the set. That was until at 8-6 up, he managed to launch a couple of grenades at me and get back to 8 all. So we went 9 all, then deuce. The lead swapped around in deuce but eventually he had the ascendency at 14-13. I thought I'd played him well enough in the next point to keep the match going with a return to deuce and yet another chance to make it to that 5th set when he loops hard and fast right onto the BH edge and the ball slid away, along with my chances.

Now, this brilliance that this 20 year old kid had demonstrated against me completely disappeared from him for the rest of the night. To see him play my "late" teammate just a little while after, you'd swear he wasn't the same player. He was tentative, he missed his loops and smashes and just had nothing of the air of grace he'd had in playing me. I'd have pulverised THIS guy. What changed? Well apparently he wasn't feeling so well by then, and the same happened in all his other games. So if I'd played him when I was supposed to, he wouldn't have been in the condition he was when I played him. But my late teammate had brought this about by his tardiness.

We went on to lose the doubles, while still waiting for our late player to arrive. Then when he arrived, as I said, he played the whiz kid and beat him comfortably as the kids whiz had completely left him. This put our teamscore at 3-1 down. After that I had to play the only guy in their team who I was fairly sure I'd lose to. I have beaten him before, but not for a long time. And while I tried my level best this guy just brings out my worst. He's a chopper/retriever. And when I play him points just leak out of me like I'm a sieve. Years ago I found ways to beat him a few times, but he seems to have plugged those holes and now I struggle with him. And tonight he cleaned me up 3-0 and we went 4-1 down.

My other teammate next played the kid who'd lost his whiz, and he beat him 3-0. Then I played my Thursday night teammate who is in the opposing side. Last time I played him in the season he beat me 3-0. I turned the tables on him tonight and beat him in a ridiculously easy 3-0 win. And the funny thing was I didn't have to play anywhere near as well as the kid I'd played earlier to do it.

So this had us back to 4-3 and a sense of maybe we still had a show. But then our late player played the chopper/retriever. Our guy is also a retriever, but he has nothing on their guy. In fact, their guy has the wood on him and he loses it 3-0 also. So they are 5-3 up on us.

The 2nd doubles is next and I figure I'll play with our retriever. However my other teamy suggests we take a risk and play him instead with the retriever. I can see a possible merit in it, although I can see it bringing us unstuck too. Lose the doubes and we lose the final. But I agree to take the risk. He and I had lost the first doubles, and a lot of that was caused by him missing attack after attack. This is why I'm hesitant and he knows it. But they go in and win the first set, just. 13-11. Then in the 2nd set he starts missing a lot of attacks again and they lose 11-8. In the 3rd set his attacks land and they win 11-4. In the 4th set the opponents attacks win out, even though our attacker doesn't miss so many this time (but they get them back) and we lose the set 11-7. In the 5th set though, his attacks are just brilliant like he's on a crusade and we win the set 11-3 and now we're 5-4 down.

Our attacker (who is a lefty) then plays their chopper/retriever. Our guy is one of the only guys I know who has little trouble with their guy. A lot has to do with him being a lefty and the chopper's weaker side being his BH. So he naturally drills the ball into his weaker side. Anyway, he disposes with the guy 3-1 and the score is 5 all for the night! The time of night has also now approaching
midnight!!!

So, we have the final decider to be played.....between our retriever and my Thursday night teammate. Our guy usually beats theirs and I'm sensing we might just steal a victory. The match proceeds and we lose the first set 12-10, and for another deuce result to decide the 2nd set at 16-14. Its tight, but now our guy produces the goods and jumps out to a 7-1 lead in the third. My sense of victory grows! But then our guy chokes and loses it 12-10! But wait! He wins the 4th set 11-3 So it all comes down to the 5th set to decide the final. This time the opponent jumps out to a 4-0 lead. But my teamy finds 3 points back before they turn with us 5-3 down. On the turn, my teamy suddenly finds his leg cramping. He goes down the other end and plays on with his cramp seeming to have gone. His movement doesn't seem so well now though, and his opponent plays it cagey, moving him in and out and all around. His plan works as we lose the set 11-5 and our premiership hopes are finally dashed!

But, if my retriever teamy had been on time tonight, I am fairly certain we would have won.

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Another final tonight and I did not like our chances of winning too much. I think we were the only team to beat our opponents during the season (or perhaps 1 of only 2). But the night we won, one of their players was away and they had a fill-in. If they did lose another round, they were also missing a usual player on that night.

Tonight, as you'd expect, they had the proper team. I got to TT just on time tonight, which is unusual. Apparently our over-eager young club manager was keen to get things going though, and my partner was into the first set. He was playing what we consider the weaker opponent (no that he's very weak). In fact my teamy wasn't sure he could bet either opponent. As it turns out this opponent had something going on with his playing hand (he's a lefty) that was giving him some trouble. Apparently he had lost some feeling in part of his hand. It didn't stop him playing some great smashes, but it seemed the longer rallies went on, the worse it was for him. So my teammate waits him out (which is his game to lob around anyway) and he wins it 4-0.

Next I have to play their better player. He's an ex teammate of mine on Mondays and his game has gotten better and better since we split off. He is a very tall guy with a huge FH and a very attacking LP BH. I lost the first set 11-9, but evened up by beating him 11-5 in the 2nd set. I get a boost of confidence when I go 2-1 up on him by winning the 3rd set 11-7. He turns it around on me to go 2 all with 11-7 of his own. He narrowly picks up the lead after another tight set of 11-9. I play the 6th set well and take the lead and feel like I've got it covered to go into the 7th set, when he gets some balls off the pips that look like they're going long and drop on the table corner. He finds his way to a 10-9 lead, when he loops hard at my FH. I counter smash back at this which I'd done in an earlier set for a clear winner. This time I send the ball too flat and high and end up long, losing 11-9 again! So he wins 4-2. And actually I was quite happy to take the 2 sets, but of course would have loved 2 more

My teammate then plays this guy and goes down 4-1 to him. So we are 2-1 down for the night.

I play the lefty with the dud hand. The BH smashes he sent past me in the match, you'd swear there was nothing wrong with his hand. But he did miss some other shots that suggested he was struggling with some shots. In the 2nd set he got out to a 5-0 lead on me. He was sending me topspin and some no spin serves, but he got them to float deeper than expected and getting caught under my blade. He did the same with some of his returns. I knew if I could prevent this happening I could get back in the set. I began going to his FH more, which is usually his stronger side. He returns the ball a lot but eventually was going for FH smashes and missing. His FH loop didn't seem to be working either, so I kept putting the ball short and long, left and right, looking to get him to attack and miss. This worked to a point, as I got back to deuce, but then couldn't quite close it out....until I got the score to 14-12 my way That was close! I know from experience this is a guy who will take a mile if you give him an inch.

I take out the next 2 sets continuing to play in a way that doesn't let him get the bat into a comfy spot in his hand where his smashes will come off. He got a few of them on still, but I won both sets around 11-7 keeping him off balance.

So the score for the night is 2 all...it all comes down to the doubles!

I begin receiving in the doubles from the LP player and hitting to the lefty. This combination works fairly well for us as my teamy has a big BH smash that I'm always looking to get set up. Unfortunately, he is not super consistent with this shot. So setting it up can mean he gives away the point, or it can mean he wins it. Its 50/50. He misses it a bit, and lands it a bit in this set. After he misses it he plays some safe shots. We reach the end of the 1st 8 points at 5-3 up. They pull that back to 6 all, but we win the set 11-8 after I get the lefty to net some serves and send some returns long.

They turn around and win the next set 11-7 as the combination doesn't work as well for us. I'm returning to the LP player this time and if I send the ball to his FH he loops it straight back at me and makes it hard for my teamy to reach it. If I angle it into his BH, he angles it back to our BH with even more angle and makes it hard for my teamy to reach, and when he does the lefty was often there ready to hit it back wide to our BH. Impossible for me to get to when he's smashing into a corner where my teamy is still trying to clear. We need to find a solution to this end, or we've lost the final!

We go into the third set and the game is again tight. The LP player once again serves to me and I just try to vary the returns to the lefty so he gets no advantage on my partner. His returns from me only sets my teamy up once in the first few, which he misses his smash on. I comment I really shouldn't set him up However, in the rest of our play we have them covered, and we're 5-3 up again once everyone has served their first turn. Later in the set my teamy's BH smash starts working and we pull out an 11-9 win, to go 2-1 up.

Seeking a 3-1, we do much better in our bad combination this time and we get out to a 10-8 lead only to lose 4 points in a row!! 2 all!

Back to the better end, but this time we reach the 8 point mark at 4 all. The set ticks along point for point. Every time we catch a lead, something gives it back. One time my teamy returns too high and I wear a smash from the LP player. Another the LP player sends me an angle to my BH that's so wide and fast that while I reach it, I can't get the right power and I net it. Then at 9 all, there's a rally then reaches a point where I'm stuck right in the back corner of our FH court with the LP player fast looping at me. My chop-blocks are usually close to the table, but this is more of a chop that I meet this ball with of the pips. The chop I send back has the lefty net it. We win the next point and we're 3-2 up!

So, now we have the opportunity to win this final, if only we can work out how to win this end. I change one thing in my play that I haven't done in the other 2 sets from this end. I send the ball longer to the LP player on my shots to him. As he's been used to playing the ball over the table mostly from me, now he is taking the ball from me in the same spot, but in different timing. This results in him sending all his fast loops long. I counted 3 or 4 points we gained this time around where he did this, that we didn't get before. And he didn't get the chance to get my teamy out of position so much on other shots. My teamy therefore doesn't give the lefty so many opportunities to smash winners....and the ones he tried often missed. Still the set is tight (my teamy did miss quite a few BH smashes too ). We reach 10-7 up and they win back to 10-8. The LP player now serves to my teamy and my teamy returns it wide of the table to their BH (down the line). 10-9 and history is looking to repeat! The LP player serve again and my teamy returns to their BH side, but not so wide this time. It clips the net and drops.....the lefty scrambles to hit it and reaches it with the edge of his bat and sends it into the net...we win the set, the match and the final with this 11-9!!

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd also won leading player for the season. I won 18/20 or 90%. I lost to the LP player in the finals team 4-1, and another player 4-0 during the season. The LP player won 16/18. He missed a night, and if he hadn't I think he would have won leading player instead of me....so lucky me

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Oh and here's the medals I won tonight....

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Leading player, well done Reb. Must be in the wrong grade.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Joola Rhyzm 425 2.0mm ,BH Donic Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm

Thanks Cobalt. I fit between the cracks of the A2 ad A1, but I'm more A2 than A1. This is the first time I've actually won leading player in A2 in about 6 years of playing it. I've had 3 seasons in all in A1, and while I win the odd game there, I don't make the win ratios to say I belong there. I was happy to win this, because my friend who I lost to twice (once in the season, once in the final) missed one night would have otherwise "pipped" (pun intended ) me as he was on fire this season. Mind you, I had some very tough battles with people I could easily have lost to this season....so I'm pretty happy about it.

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Congrats, Reb. A pity you couldn't win em all, but you got what you were looking for in at least one league and that is more than many.

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Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus