The NYC Mayor’s cup, the 3rd of 3 post season tournaments for high schoolers, pit the PSAL league players against other high schools in the city to fight for the title of “Best in the City. This tournament was a double-elimination event, where competitors had to lose twice to be knocked out of the tournament. All first-time losers were sent into a loser’s bracket, where the final of the bracket determined who got 3rd place.
FTTC players Nehemiah Yu and William Song took 2 of the 3 medals on offer in the Boys Singles Division.
The Bronx Science Girls team, guided by FTTC Coach Michael Song, took home 4 at the NYC Mayor’s Cup!
Girls Doubles
The undefeated duo of Lara Belton and Chloe Guerrero swamped all of their opponents 3-0 to take the title. Their final opponents were Nicole Chan and Abigail Isakov of Brooklyn Tech, the same pair they played at the Individuals tournament. The Bronx Science pair took the match in 3 straight games (12-10, 11-9, 11-2). From winning the team championships, the PSAL Individuals, and Mayor’s Cup titles, the Bronx Science pair has truly solidified themselves as the “Best in the City”!
Bronx Science pair of Joy Herrera and Kaitlyn Lai, seeded 11th, claimed 3rd place. After taking down Cindy Lin and Cathleen Lu, the 6th seeds, of Flushing High School 3-1 (11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7), they went on to cause another huge upset by beating Regina Yu and Sabrina Zheng of the Queens School of Inquiry, the 3rd seeds, 3-2. They came back from a 0-2 deficit to take the match (8-11, 4-11, 14-12, 13-11, 11-8).
In the semifinals, the Lai/Hererra fell to the Brooklyn Tech pairing of Nicole Chan and Abigail Isakov (9-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-8), placing them in the loser’s bracket. After taking a close match between Liang Ping Zhu and Junqiao Pan, the 5th seeds, 3-2 (7-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7), the pair once again faced Regina Yu and Sabrina Zheng from QSI for the 3rd place match. Again, they won 3-2 (7-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6) to clinch 3rd place. An unexpected result! Congratulations to Bronx Science for taking 1st and 3rd in Girls Doubles!
Boys Singles
In the Boys Singles event, again, true to form, FTTC’s William Song won the Boys Singles title. After beating Nehemiah Yu 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 13-11), Song found himself in trouble when playing Eric Wu from Bronx Science. Song narrowly winning in a thrilling 5 game match (11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 9-11, 11-5). William Song, taking the team championship title, the PSAL Individuals Boys Singles Title, and the NYC Mayor’s Cup title, solidified himself as the best high school player in NYC. Congratulations!
As a consolation, Yu won 3rd place by defeating Alex Chasteen of the Bronx Science (11-4, 5-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8).
Alex and Nehemiah played each other earlier in the day, with Nehemiah winning in 3 straight games. However, in the 3rd place match, Nehemiah found himself down 1-2. In the end, he dug deep and played every point as if it was his last. Two games felt like an eternity, but eventually, through sheer mental toughness, Nehemiah took the match.
From 4th place at the Individual event, one week prior, to 3rd place in the city at the Mayor’s Cup, Nehemiah did an excellent job in reviewing his performance with FTTC Head Coach Sydney Christophe. During the interim week, he was seen practicing hard at FTTC to correct his mistakes. We at FTTC applaud him for his hard work and success!
Girls Singles
Lastly, it was an all Bronx Science affair in the Girls Singles as Jasmine Lo, once again faced off against Gina Seo. In the semifinal round however, both players struggled. Down 0-2, Seo had to dig deep to defeat Brooklyn Tech’s Jane Medved (8-11, 5-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-5).
Lo also had a difficult time against Stuyvesant’s Larissa Yue, winning the match in 4 games (11-4, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5).
Ultimately, it was Gina that won, beating Jasmine in a hotly contested 4 game match (6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8).
After the tournament, Coach Song said:
“Again, our FTTC students showed the city why we keep on being successful at every tournament we compete in. It is the dedication, resourcefulness, and diligence that each of our players provide that push them to do their best. I hope to see them achieve even greater results next season- I know they will all work towards it.”
Congratulations again to the FTTC squad for their brilliant end to a brilliant table tennis season.
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