On Thursday, February 9th, Stuy’s girls table tennis team won their second consecutive PSAL championship after defeating Flushing High School 5-0 at Edward R. Murrow High School.

The question on everyone’s minds at the beginning of the season was: Could the Peglegs repeat as PSAL champions after a historically dominant 2021-2022 season? The answer was a resounding yes.

The Peglegs were as dominant as they were the year before, not only finishing 12-0 in the Manhattan/Staten Island Division, but also winning every match 5-0.

Still, it wasn’t as easy as it looked on paper.

“We had a lot of issues to deal with,” said coach Emilio Nieves. “We had seniors going through the very stressful college application process, the typical pressurized academic workload Stuy students encounter, the time consuming nature of traveling to Staten Island to play four matches, and opponents highly motivated to defeat us.”

Despite these challenges, the Peglegs were able to consistently focus on playing the winning table tennis they have been known for. The Peglegs were led by a three-headed singles monster consisting of two-time PSAL Girls Individual Champion and sophomore Alyssa Kang, senior co-captain Larissa Yue, who finished her career 51-0, and senior Anastacia Titov, who also finished undefeated during her two year career (32-0). What really distinguished the Peglegs from their opponents, however, was their depth, as their first doubles (senior Judy Chen and junior Michelle Liang) and second doubles (senior co-captain Evelyn Chen and sophomore Cindy Ye) were formidable, while experienced reserves such as Kalani Ho and Jieying Lin often stepped in to keep the perfect record alive.

The strong performance during division play resulted in the #1 seed for the PSAL playoffs, where the dominance continued. In the first round, the Peglegs defeated F.D.R. High School 5-0; McKee/S.I. Tech 4-1 in the quarterfinals; and Brooklyn Tech 4-1 in the semifinals; with the win against Flushing, the Peglegs finished 16-0, winning 78 out of a possible 80 games in team matches.

Can the Peglegs make it three PSAL championships in a row? Said Nieves, “To be honest, we won’t be thinking about that. However, since we will be losing key seniors, repeating as champions for the third year in a row will be a tough challenge. We just have to approach the season as we always do: work hard, focus on the process of success, and let the chips fall where they may.”