At the beginning of Thursday's U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifier Round - Table Tennis, 24 men had hopes of being one of two competitors that would move into the top 12 in order to compete in the round robin tournament beginning Friday morning, Jan. 11. While 22 ultimately fell short, Razvan Cretu and Tahl Leibovitz were each able to navigate their way through a very difficult field.
Going into the first Olympic Trials event of the year, 21 talented athletes had ambitions of advancing to the North American Qualification Tournament April 4-6 in Vancouver, Canada.
The Towson Tigers were picked to finish dead last in the CAA and with a 1-3 record, they were on their way, but standing in their way was a team more primed for the CAA cellar. The Dragons dropped their third straight game 86-77 at the Towson Center Jan.
Defense has been the M.O. for the Dragons' recent success, and they punctuated it with a dominating defensive performance over Hofstra Jan. 6 en route to a 59-30 victory at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Drexel (6-6, 1-0 CAA) allowed the fewest points in school history in the rout.
Rivalry games bring out the true character of every team. The Dragons were in control for the first 30 minutes, but the Blue Hens took over down the stretch in their 67-63 win at the Daskalakis Athletic Center Jan 5. Tempers flared from the outset as Herb Courtney and Randy Oveneke were issued technical fouls just over a minute into the game for getting into an altercation.
Starting January 9, 2008, The Triangle Sports section will offer at least one piece of sports content on the Web site every day. From the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Trials for Table Tennis Jan. 9 to the championship rounds Jan. 13, The Triangle will have up to date information.
Drexel men's basketball coach Bruiser Flint won his 200th game as a head basketball coach in the Dragons' 70-60 over UNC-Wilmington Jan 2 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. The win was the team's eighth of the season. Coach Flint has amassed a 114-80 record since starting at Drexel in 2001.
The Drexel wrestling team gave Pac-10 powerhouse Stanford everything it could handle. But the Cardinals (3-0) won the two biggest matches of the afternoon, including the battle of former All-Americans and ultimately defeated the shorthanded Dragons (5-3) 24-12 Jan 4.
You may not be 6'6" and you probably can't dunk. But when you attend men's Drexel basketball games, you may wish that you could be out on the court with other players like Frank Elegar, Randy Oveneke and Scott Rodgers. With NCAA March Madness '08 now out for X-Box 360 and other consoles, you can finally get the feel that you are playing at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
Drexel didn't start 2008 the way it wanted to, falling behind 11-0 in its first game of the new year. But the Dragons (8-6, 1-1 CAA) fought back going on a 45-24 run in the second half, defeating the Seahawks (8-6, 1-1 CAA) 70-60 Jan. 2 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
The women's basketball team closed out its non-conference schedule with its most convincing victory of the season. Drexel (5-6) will enter conference play with a four game-winning streak after easily dispatching of Mount St. Mary's (3-10) 81-51 Jan. 3. "In the beginning of the game, the starters set the tempo," Drexel head coach Denise Dillon said.
After ending their four-game losing streak, the Dragons were looking to run their winning streak up to three just in time for New Year's. Drexel fell behind by 10 late in the first half, but had a chance to cut its deficit to one. But Tramayne Hawthorne missed a three with 17:43 left in the game and the Dragons never got any closer the rest of the way.
The Drexel women's basketball team began the year 1-6. However, they proved it's not how you start, it's how you finish. The Dragons (4-6) closed out 2007 on a three-game winning streak thanks to a convincing 75-52 victory over American (6-8) Dec. 31 at the Palestra.
Frank Elegar and Scott Rodgers made sure Drexel would go home happy for the holidays. Elegar scored 16 points, all in the second half, becoming the 29th Dragon in team history to eclipse the 1,000 career point mark and Rodgers added a game-high 18 as Drexel (6-5) snapped its four-game losing skid with a 65-53 Dec.
The Lady Dragons strung together back-to-back wins for the first time this season, beating neighborhood rival Penn, 60-41 at the DAC on December 20, 2007. The win marks the first time in Drexel history that both the men's and women's basketball teams beat the University of Pennsylvania in the same season.
Despite being held scoreless in the first half, Tramayne Hawthorne never stopped shooting - and in the second half his shot started falling. Hawthorne hit five second-half 3-pointers as Drexel (7-5) overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to defeat Rider (8-5) 73-66 Dec.
If the Dragons were going to beat the Temple Owls for the second straight year, Frank Elegar was going to need some help. No Dragon other than Elegar scored after the 11:53 mark of the second half as Drexel fell to Temple 64-51 at the Palestra Dec 15. The Dragons' senior center led all scorers with 18 points, including the final 12 for Drexel (5-5, 0-1 CAA), but he was only 6-17.
When Drexel announced that they got the rights to the Table Tennis Olympic Trials this summer, I thought it was a fun joke. I had no idea that ping-pong was an Olympic sport. My editor wanted to do extensive coverage of the four-day event, and I could not help but ask why.
Sports are all about numbers - and table tennis is no exception. With 40 players taking part in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Table Tennis there are going to be a lot of matches. With that comes a lot of (11-9) (11-7) (5-11) (11-6) scores to report. In order to get your eyes ready to read the scores, make sure to take a look at "Table Tennis by the Numbers.
