Men's and Women's Final Twelve

By Larry Hodges

Let's take a moment to thank our umpires and referee here at the Trials. They are Referee Larry Kesler, full-time umpires Patrick Collins, Chris Lehman, and Erdogan Ozel, and part-time umpires Larry Bavly, Dan Seemiller, Andre Scott, Masaaki Tajima, and Barney D. Reed. They call the balls and strikes here, and don't always get the appreciation they deserve. 

And let's also thank the rest of the staff - Tournament President Richard Lee, Tournament Director Alan Williams, Media Director & USATT Liaison Tommy Perkins, USATT Elite Athlete Chair Hank McCoullum, USA Men's Coach Dan Seemiller, USATT Board Member Barney D. Reed, and the Penn State Staff: Jennifer Lee, Tom Nguyen and Kevin Lup. See the complete staff listing. 

Women's Round One

• Gao Jun d. Laura Leach, 7,5,4,5

• Jasna Reed d. Judy Hugh, 5,8,5,6

• Tawny Banh d. Michelle Do, 5,9,3,11

• Lily Yip d. Virginia Sung, 8,5,7,-7,10

• Jackie Lee d. Whitney Ping, 5,8,7,-11,-7,2

Notably missing from the above - Wang Chen, previously listed as the #1 seed, but unable to get citizenship in time for the Trials. So the Top Twelve became the Elegant Eleven. But we'll keep listing it as the Final Twelve. Wang, however, has been taken out of the draw, and in each round, whoever was scheduled to play her gets a bye. 

The first three matches here weren't strongly contested, although Michelle Do had a 10-9 game point in the fourth against Tawny Banh, and got to 9 in the second. Pips-out penholder Lily Yip played a very smart rolling/pushing/sudden smash game against chopper Virginia Sung - but Virginia kept it close, especially in the last two games where it seemed nothing could get past her defense. 

Whitney Ping, playing a two-winged looping game, seemed rushed and uncomfortable the first three games against super-quick Jackie Lee, and so her loops too often became off-table fishing defense. In the fourth game, she seemed to adjust to Jackie's fast pace, and it turned into a match - until Jackie turned it on in the sixth game. 

Men's Round One

• Ilija Lupulesku d. Tahl Leibovitz, 7,6,6,4

• David Zhuang d. Ashu Jain, 6,6,4,7

• Barney J. Reed d. Brian Pace, 7,9,7,11

• Mark Hazinski d. Han Xiao, -15,5,6,3,4

• Eric Owens d. Adam Hugh, 8,-9,-6,13,-4,9,6

• Khoa Nguyen d. Darko Rop, 11,-7,-7,-6,9,6,7

After losing the first to Han Xiao, 17-15 (where the receiver won almost every point after deuce), Mark Hazinski's more powerful and consistent loops dominated against Han's quicker but more erratic ones. 

Eric Owens always seems to have great trouble with Adam Hugh, and this was no exception. The BIG game was game four, a near-must win for Eric or he'd be down 3-1. Adam led 10-9 and 12-11, but Eric pulled it out, and was eventually pulled it out in seven. It was a battle of two all-out topspinners, where Eric had the forehand edge, Adam the backhand edge. 

Darko Rop has a history of winning against Khoa Nguyen (including at last year's Team Trials), and this time took a 3-1 lead. The lefty Darko is very steady, but keeps coming at you with topspin from both wings, and also blocks well. Khoa has more power, but sometimes can be erratic. It went to 7-7 in the 7th, but Khoa won the last four points. 

Women's Round Two

• Gao Jun d. Michelle Do, 8,8,4,2

• Jasna Reed d. Virginia Sung, 8,8,6,8

• Judy Hugh d. Wan Yee Cheung, 4,2,1,5

• Tawny Banh d. Jackie Lee, -5,6,8,9,-8,10

• Lily Yip d. Whitney Ping, 3,-8,5,7,5

Jackie Lee showed that she could play right at Tawny Banh's pace - something few can do. It was the most contested match this round. In the sixth, down 8-9, Jackie misses a shot, looks up, and puts her hand together as if praying. Her prayers are partially answered as she deuces it - but then she serves in the net, and ends up losing 12-10. 

Whitney Ping played well against Lily Yip, but you could see that Lily knew exactly what to do. "Whitney's playing right, but needs to play more down the line, not so much crosscourt," commented Jasna Reed. 

Men's Round Two

• Ilija Lupulesku d. Ashu Jain, 3,3,2,4

• Brian Pace d. Tahl Leibovitz, -9,-7,9,-10,6,8,6

• David Zhuang d. Han Xiao, -9,9,6,3,7

• Adam Hugh d. Barney J. Reed, 8,-5,-8,9,5,-6,10

• Mark Hazinski d. Darko Rop, 7,7,9,8

• Khoa Nguyen d. Eric Owens, -6,14,12,-5,6,-8,7

Down 3-9 in the fourth, Ashu Jain pulled off an around-the-net Loop off of Lupi's serve. That, and Lupi's topspin defense, were the highlights of the match. 

In the Qualifier, Brian Pace and Tahl Leibovitz had alternated games, with Brian winning the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th. This time, however, Tahl jumped in front, winning the first two and going up 3-1 with a spectacular counterlooping point to get the ad in the fourth. However, in the last three games, Brian jumped to big leads right from the start. Down 6-0 in the seventh, Tahl didn't give up, but 11-6 was as close as it got. 

Han Xiao pulled out the first game against pips-out penholder David Zhuang - "In the crucial points near the end, I played too safe," David said. The rest of the match, David was much more aggressive with his forehand, often smashing Han's loops. 

The most interesting match of the round was Adam Hugh versus #3 seeded Barney J. Reed. Both have great topspin control. In the seventh game, Adam had trouble with Barney's serve, and kept popping it up. Down 7-4, Adam took a timeout. When he came back, he fell behind 8-4, 9-5. Barney would only score one more point as Adam came back from double-match point (10-8) to win 12-10. Most of the points at the end were counterlooping points, and Adam won nearly all of them. 

In an equally spectacular match of power-looping, Khoa Nguyen and Eric Owens played to 7-all in the 7th. At the Nationals, Khoa had won 4-0. Again, he "won" 4-0 by winning the last four points. 

Women's Round Three

• Michelle Do d. Laura Leach, -8,4,4,7,-7,2

• Virginia Sung d. Wan Yee Cheung, 1,7,4,5

• Gao Jun d. Jackie Lee, 7,8,7,8

• Jasna Reed d. Whitney Ping, 7,7,5,5

• Tawny Banh d. Lily Yip, 12,-6,9,-4,5,-6,7

Laura Leach gave Michelle Do a surprisingly good match - the training in Sweden is paying off. It was only in the last game that Michelle was able to take control. 

Jackie Lee went up 6-1 in the first game against Gao Jun. Jackie's been playing very well so far, going 10-10 in the sixth with Tawny Banh, winning against Whitney Ping, and playing well against Gao here. But "well" against Gao is, well, not always so well on paper. 4-0 for Gao, 7,8,7,8 - yes, Gao turned it on in the first game, giving up only one more point from down 1-6. 

The main match of interest this round was Tawny Banh versus Lily Yip. The "conventional" wisdom is that for the two women's Olympic spots going to the North American Trials in Canada, Tawny and Jasna are the favorites, and Lily the main threat to them. So to go to Canada, Lily probably has to beat at least one of them. Here she had her chances, and almost made the breakthrough, going the full seven games. Tawny didn't seem to be too aggressive early in the match, but as the match went on (and especially starting in game five), she became more aggressive and fired up. One key game - Tawny went up 5-0 in the first, but Lily came back and led 10-9 and 11-10, but couldn't pull it out, losing 14-12. The two took turns dominating the other games. 

Men's Round Three

• Ilija Lupulesku d. Brian Pace, 6,4,6,-7,6

• Han Xiao d. Ashu Jain, 10,7,9,5

• Adam Hugh d. Tahl Leibovitz, 7,10,7,9

• David Zhuang d. Darko Rop, 9,7,4,6

• Khoa Nguyen d. Barney J. Reed, 8,8,11,-17,-7,7

• Mark Hazinski d. Eric Owens, -8,8,6,-3,11,6

I made a gentlemen's bet on Brian Pace against Lupulesku - a silly bet? No, the bet was he'd get a game, and Brian didn't let me down. Keep in mind that in the first two rounds, Lupi's won 8-0 by scores of 7,6,6,4, 3,3,2,4 - yes, 4.375 points a game. After facing Brian (6,4,6,-7,6), that average has skyrocketed ... to 5.23.

The two Big matches this round were Khoa Nguyen versus Barney Reed, and  Mark Hazinski versus Eric Owens. Khoa won the first two easily against Barney in this counterlooping battle. Barney led 7-4 in the third, but Khoa won in deuce to go up 3-0. In the fourth, Khoa had FOUR match points - but Barney had EIGHT (including three at 10-7) before he pulled it out, 19-17! Barney also won the fifth, but a seventh game there would not be. 

Up until now, Eric Owens' has been playing relatively soft, compared to his play in 2001, when he won the USA Nationals. "I can't believe how well he played," said Mark Nordby, normally (but not always) the coaching half of the "Marks" brothers. "He played like a tiger." Eric did rip forehands over and over, and end most points in the first two shots. Up 10-8 in the fifth, however, Eric served and backhand looped off twice in a row (once off a push, once off a flip), and couldn't pull out the 11-10 point either - and so Mark, not Eric goes up 3-2, and shortly wins 4-2.