Gavin Manders will compete in the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) tournament for the second year running after qualifying for the competition last week.Manders, who has been trading his tennis racquet for a table tennis racquet in recent years, managed to navigate his way through the regionals championships, where he came up against 25 competitors in a double elimination format, losing in the semis.The Bermuda Davis Cup player finished third to book his ticket to the big dance.“It feels great to qualify for nationals for the second straight year,” said Manders. “It feels even better to battle and compete in a competition that is not my top sport and still be a force to reckon with.“But I only use this competition to train my mind and body to be able to perform under extreme pressure situations.”The road to NCTTA was harder than last year’s with Manders having to play the best players en route to the semis.On his way to his third place finish, he knocked off Indiana University’s best player, along with the top ranked player from Indiana Wesleyan before bowing out.Although failing to win the qualifier, Manders was pleased with his performances and is anxious to see how he gets on against the best in the United States.“In the semis I ran into a professional player who won the under-22 National Championships last year and it was one of those games where I had no chance as a tennis player to beat him.“He had an answer for everything I had and was quite a humbling experience to say the least.“I’m extremely pleased with my placing seeing as I came third out of five in the group stages, but when the pressure was on in the elimination stage I raised to the occasion and was able to pull out some great wins, something I hope to translate this summer for Bermuda in Davis Cup.