The official 2009 Millcreek Open recap

I’m copying Sam’s recap below, but you can read it and view some pics at the Erie Table Tennis site.

Butler Table Tennis Club members are highlighted in red. :)

2009 MILLCREEK OPEN
TABLE TENNIS TOURNAMENT

October 24-25 in Erie PA

By Sam Steiner

Word is evidently getting out about the Erie tournaments.  A roster of 165 players signed up for this 18th annual event, another record, and about 20 more were turned away much to their disappointment.  The addition of several tables in low-rent areas of the building allowed us to keep within a half hour or so of schedule.

Most notable of Saturday’s events was a thrilling Junior Under 17 final match between two newcomers to U.S. table tennis: Tim Van Gerwen, an exchange student from Germany living in South Bend, and Zexuan Wang, a Chinese player from Toronto.  Tim brought in a rating of 2361 recently earned at his first two U.S. tournaments, while Zexuan was unrated in the U.S. but rated 2329 based on his record in Canadian tournaments.  These two talented topspinners fought a close, exciting final match with Wang winning the Junior title 3-2.

On Sunday, 13 round robin groups led to a single elimination playoff for the final four round robin.  Some noteworthy matches here were Van Gerwen over Randy Seemiller in a long tough 4-3 match, and John Wetzler over Zexuan Wang 4-0.  Joining these winners in the semi’s were perennial power Dan Seemiller, still rated over 2500 at age 50+, and Dan’s current protégé Joe Cochran.  In the RR finals it was Dan without losing a game, with Cochran gamely battling his coach but settling for 2nd.  The best match here was Van Gerwen pulling past a tiring Wetzler 4-2 for 4th place.  Cochran did rule the very competitive U2400 event losing only one game to Wang along the way.

Thanks to sponsors Butterflyonline.com, Glass House Inn, and Millcreek Rec & Parks, and to the Erie tournament committee members for many long hours of labor to bring it all together.

Results:

U900

Semi’s:  Hasan Soliman d. Bill Stewart 3-2             Jeremy Bernard d. Bill Miller 3-1
Finals:  Bernard d. Soliman 3-2

U1600

Semi’s:  Karl Ostermann d. Dustin Zemaitis 3-2            Tundi Balogh d. Cameron Siou 3-0
Finals:  Balogh d. Ostermann 3-1

U1800

Semi’s:  Henry Chau d. Adrian Molina 3-1      Juraj Vlahovic d. Dave French 3-1
Finals:  Chau d. Vlahovic 3-1

U1100

Semi’s:  Kyler Posey d. Bill Miller 3-0       David Sommers d. Rick Stuyvesant 3-0
Finals:  Posey d. Sommers 3-0

U2000

Semi’s:  Alex Meleshenko d. Richard Chan 3-1       Wayne Carney d. Dalibor Stojcic 3-0
Finals:  Meleshenko d. Carney 3-1

U1300

Semi’s:  John Scarnato d. Kirk Loomis 3-2         Boris Shtarkman d. J.D. Wagner 3-2
Finals:  Scarnato d. Shtarkman 3-0

Senior O40

Semi’s:  Dan Seemiller d. Philip Poon 3-0           John Wetzler d. Andrew Anderson 3-2
Finals:  Seemiller & Wetzler split

3400 Doubles

Semi’s:  A. Maronian/Sanzotta Sr d. Ling/Chan 3-0      Balderas/K. Pinili d. Bailey/Malis 3-0
Finals:  Balderas/Pinili d. Maronian/Sanzotta 3-0

Open Warmup

1.  Dan Seemiller                  2.  Desmond Preston
1.  Joe Cochran                     2.  Hossein Sharifi
1.  John Wetzler                     2.  Philip Poon
1.  Tim Van Gerwen              2.  Tom Yost
1.  Zexuan Wang                   2.  Dan Seemiller Jr.

U2400

Semi’s:  Joe Cochran d. Zexuan Wang 3-1            Tim Van Gerwen d. John Wetzler 3-0
Finals:  Cochran d. Van Gerwen 3-0

U1450

Semi’s:  John Ernisse d. Dan Cochran 3-1             Cameron Siou d. Berl Stein 3-1
Siou d. Ernisse 3-2

Open

Dan Seemiller d. Mike Walk 4-0
Tim Van Gerwen d. Randy Seemiller 4-3
John Wetzler d. Zexuan Wang 4-0
Joe Cochran d. Andrew Anderson 4-0

RR Finals:

1.  Dan Seemiller 3-0, d. Cochran 4-0; d. Van Gerwen 4-0; d. Wetzler 4-0
2.  Joe Cochran 2-1, d. Van Gerwen 4-1; d. Wetzler 4-0
3.  Tim Van Gerwen 1-2, d. Wetzler4-2
4.  John Wetzler 0-3

Junior U14

1.  Kieran Pinili 4-0 d. Chau 3-1; d. Daoud 3-0; d. Barnes 3-2; d. Wawrzaszek 3-1
2.  Sabrina Daoud 3-1, d. Wawrzaszek 3-0; d. Chau n.s.
3.  Kyle Barnes 2-2 d. Wawrzaszek 3-1; d. Chau n.s.
4.  Zach Wawrzaszek 1-3, d. Chau n.s.
5.  Gordon Chau 0-4

Senior Esquire

1.  Hossein Sharifi 2-0, d. Sandy Chu 3-1; d. Gary Martin 3-0
2.  Gary Martin 1-1, d. Sandy Chu 3-0
3.  Sandu Chu 0-2

U2200

Semi’s:  Andrew Anderson d. Tom Yost 3-2               Dan Seemiller Jr. d. Tak Cheong Yip 3-0
Finals:  Anderson d. Seemiller 3-2

Hardbat

Semis’:  Ken Pinili d. Bill McLaughlin 16, -16, 14    Gary Martin d. Guy McLean 19, 15
Finals:  Pinili d. Martin 14, 13

2800 Doubles

Semi’s:  Pinili/Pinili d. Barnes/Malis 3-0       Wang/S. Daoud d. Scarnato/Ostermann 3-1
Finals:  Wang/Daoud d. Pinili/Pinili 3-2

U1750

Semi’s:  Jim Huang d. Richard Roman 3-2               Karl Ostermann d. Jim Spetsios 3-0
Finals:  Huang d. Ostermann 3-0

U700

0.  Evan Gould 4-0, but unrated
1.  Kyle Barnes 3-1, d. Pinili 3-2; d. Wawrzaszek 3-0; d. Joyce 3-0
2.  Kieran Pinili 2-2, d. Wawrzaszek 3-2; d. Joyce 3-2
3.  Carol Joyce 1-3, d. Wawrzaszek 3-0
4.  Zach Wawrzaszek 0-4

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