Janet Briggs

This past Monday, a group of roughly 25 students gathered eagerly to watch the most anticipated sporting event to hit the Smith Union Game Room: the second annual intramural ping pong tournament. After three weeks of play and 68 competitors, by Monday the tournament was down to four, and ultimately, Andrey Melnikov ’28 took the title as 2025 ping pong champion by the end of the night.

The night started at 7 p.m. with two matches, one between Logan Johnson ’26 and Oliver Brenner-Bates ’27 and the other between Shashu Srivatsan ’27 and Melnikov.

The first round of the tournament was best of three and then the second round was best of five, but the semifinals and finals were played in an Olympic format. Each match was best out of seven games, with the first to 11 points (with at least a two point lead) winning each game. The leaders of the Ping Pong Club, who organized the tournament, oversaw each match.

Ultimately, Melnikov and Srivatsan ended with a 4–0 result after a hard-fought battle from Srivatsan. The other semifinal between Johnson and Brenner-Bates ended at 4–1, with a mid-match surge from Brenner-Bates. However, Johnson’s primarily defensive strategy held up through this match, securing him the win.

With Melnikov and Johnson left for the finals, the competitors took a brief break while Brenner-Bates and Srivatsan played the consolation final for third place. It was a close match, making it to the seventh set which Srivatsan took 11–3.

“I feel like it was slightly less pressure, and so that loosened me up a little bit,” Srivatsan said. “It was a good game overall, and I have played with [Brenner-Bates]  a lot, too. He actually beat me a couple times the other day, so this is kind of nice.”

The final match started evenly with each Johnson and Melnikov taking a set. Melnikov started the third set strong with a 10–3 lead, but Johnson came back, pushing the game to 10–7. However, Melnikov took the set 11–7, leaving the match at 2–1 at the end of the third set.

The fourth set started more evenly, quickly going up to 2–2; however, Johnson took a slight lead to 4–2 with a slight strategy shift focusing on Melnikov’s weaker back hand. However, Melnkov adjusted quickly as he surpassed Johnson 7–6 with a forehand slam. For the remainder of the set, Johnson and Melnikov traded points, with Melnikov taking the set 12–10 and putting the match at 3–1, one set away from victory.

“[Melinkov’s] forehand was crazy, and he was killing the ball with his forehand but couldn’t really hit a good backhand. So I was just serving it to his backhand and would only hit to his backhand,” Johnson said.

Throughout this final match, Johnson had the support of fellow squash teammate Jack Winston ’25, who took his cheering and coaching very seriously to push Johnson through this final few sets.

“He is a close friend, and I thought if I could help him one percent, I should do what it takes,” Winston said. “I am nowhere near the player [that those two are], and it was very impressive to watch them battle it out.”

The fifth set was an even match, with Johnson and Melnikov trading points back and forth, until Melnikov took a slight lead at 9–6. However, Johnson continuing to prey on Melnikov’s backhand pushed the set along until it was ten-all. After a few over-hit balls from Melnikov, Johnson took the set 13–11.

The sixth was all Johnson, who fell into his groove of targeting Melnikov’s backhand and not allowing his stronger slams to cut through. Johnson ultimately took the set 11–5, bringing the match to a tie and sending it into the final set. However, Melnikov picked up on Johnson’s changed strategy.

“Before my final round, my coach and roommate Jaeger [Dostal ’28] said one sentence to me, and that sentence changed the whole outcome of the last game,” Melnikov said. “He said, ‘Your forehand is starting to get less confident—remember this is how you won your first two rounds. Get back to the forehand.’”

With a new approach, Melnikov started strong in the final set pushing to 2–0 and forcing more forehand shots. Johnson returned some of the shots, but ultimately Melnikov punctuated his victory with two forehand slams to close out the set at 11–4 and match at 4–3.

Melnikov received a 3D printed ping pong trophy, with small removable paddles, and a gift card. All semi-finalists also received a 3D printed ping pong player. The club leaders were excited by the turnout for the tournament and the fan support at the final, and they hope that it pushes more people to join Ping Pong Club, which meets Fridays from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

“Hopefully through this event all the good ping pong players can come to our weekly meetings,” Ping Pong Club President Runqin Chen ’26 said. “Look out for the next one.”