The table tennis team posted solid results at the first event of the season, the Butterfly Badger Open September 16-17 at the Milwaukee County Sports Complex in Franklin, Wisconsin.

The Lions earned two victories and a trio of top three finishes, led by Jeff Yamada who won the U2450 event and took third in the U2600 event.  He defeated five-time U.S. Champion Dan Seemiller and was also an Open Doubles quarterfinalist with teammate Massao Kohatsu.  The duo was involved in one of the most exciting matches of the whole tournament when they came close to upsetting the eventual doubles champions Jishan Liang, NCTTA National Singles Champion, and Eugene Wang, top 50 player in the world and part of the Olympic and Canadian National Team.  Fans can see video of the match via this link.    

Kohatsu had an excellent debut for Lindenwood.  In addition to the nice showing in doubles with Yamada, he also upset his teammate in the U2600 event. 

The other individual title went to Chelsea Edghill, who won the Open Women's division.  Michelle John took third place in the event.  The other top three performance belonged to Kevin Choo in the U2100 division.

Several Lions reached the quarterfinals during the weekend.  Alex Legaria and Santiago Sevilla accomplished the feat in the U2600 event.  Filip Cajka did so in U2300 competition, and earned a victory against U.S. Cadet National Team member Nandan Naresh in the process.  Liaoliao Gong reached the quarterfinals in the Open Women's event.

Head Coach David Cabrera also had praise for Michael Nunes, Shraddha Belbase, and Bangyao Sun for having excellent debuts for Lindenwood.

The Badger Open was celebrating its 10^th season this year.

The table tennis team gets a small break before returning to action on the road at the South Shore Championships October 7-8 In Highland, Illinois.