After a successful trip down to state last weekend, the Niles West varsity ping pong team secured 2nd place at state. Led by head coach Jerry Pope, the team was able to compete well and rally together a historic run that will put this program on the map.

Although placing well at this level of competition and going beyond expectations, senior Dylan Tran had high hopes for his squad throughout their journey.

“After our undefeated run and several upsets, I thought we really had a chance to win it all. We unfortunately lost the title by two matches at state, and although we are all disappointed and heartbroken for coming so close and not winning, second place is still a huge accomplishment for our team and exceeded my initial expectations,” Tran said.

An ongoing intense work ethic and dedication to the game was spread throughout the team.

“During the COVID lock down, we were not in season, so I had mainly practiced alone or with a few teammates at private clubs, my basement, or community centers. However, when we got into season, many of our varsity players, especially the younger ones, shared my powerful drive to improve and eventually followed me to these practices outside of school. As one starter player would train hard, another player would watch them and even challenge them for their starting spot on the varsity team. I felt that this collective mindset to challenge and win against each other nurtured our team’s drive to defeat other schools as well,” senior Keene Huynh said.

As for Pope, a standard has been set for this program as he hopes to take it to the next level with high aspirations for next year.

“Our goal for next year will be to return to the final four and win it all.  We will lose half of our team to graduation.  Now that some of the younger players got a taste of the championship game, they are hungry to win.  I do believe our success and advantage over the other teams was due to the fact that our team put in the time.  We practice and practice and practice.  And through practice we improved. I’m especially proud of my guys.  They are great student-athletes and great human beings,” says Pope.

Huynh notes how proud he is of his team, and hopes for the best in the future.

“I still feel very proud of the result and at times it almost felt unreal, but I definitely feel that we could have won it all as we were only one to two wins away. I really hope that next year’s team will bring home a 1st place trophy, and I will try to work with them the best I can to help them achieve that goal,” Huynh stated.