FREMONT, Calif. — The Carolina Gold Rush defeated the Chicago Wind 21-17 in the second semifinal match of Season 3’s Championship Weekend on Saturday.

The Gold Rush, the reigning Major League Table Tennis (MLTT) champions, secured their second consecutive trip to the Championship Match with Saturday’s victory. They become the second MLTT team to ever make it to multiple Championship Matches (Texas Smash in Seasons 1 and 2), and they now have a chance to become the first multi-time champions in league history.

The Wind defeated the Gold Rush in both of their Season 3 matches, by scores of 18-3 in Week 3 and 15-6 in Week 11. The Gold Rush had only ever faced the Wind this season with key players missing, and they entered this match with their most complete active roster this season. 

Carolina’s Eugene Wang (SPINDEX: 2819) won a golden point to take the first game in Singles 1. Season 3 Men’s MVP winner Robert Gardos (2826) won the second game 11-6, but Wang secured Singles 1 for the Gold Rush after taking an 11-9 third game.

Season 3 Women’s MVP winner Chen Sun (2616) extended Carolina’s lead to 5-1 at the end of Singles 2. She swept Mo Zhang (2581), the Season 2 Women’s MVP, in three close games (11-9, 11-9, 11-8).

Enzo Angles (2762) and Kai Zhang (2612) kept the Gold Rush’s onslaught going in Doubles. They took two of three (11-7, 9-11, 11-6) from Wind duo Jeongwoo Park (2793) and Sean Zhang (2657), increasing their lead to 7-2 before the 10-minute intermission.

Angles picked up right where he left off in Singles 3, taking the first game from Emmanuel Lebesson (2802) 11-5. Lebesson won the next two games 11-7 and 11-5, earning Chicago its first set of the match and cutting Carolina’s lead to 8-4.

Carolina’s Edward Ly (2712) snapped Lebesson’s winning streak with an 11-8 first game victory in Singles 4, but he didn’t kill Chicago’s momentum. Park won the next two games 11-5 and 11-3 to put Chicago at a three-point deficit heading into the Golden Game.

Chicago slowly chipped away at Carolina’s lead throughout the first half of the Golden Game, with Park and Kai Zhang leaving their second matchup with a score of 13-11. But the Gold Rush stayed ahead until Sun scored the 21st point against Sean Zhang.

The Gold Rush will face the Portland Paddlers in Sunday’s championship match at 4:30 p.m. PDT. That match will stream exclusively on Table Tennis TV, which can be accessed on TableTennis.TV, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV.

You can find MLTT betting odds for the weekend HERE Powered by BETONLINE.

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