With the first divisional championship approaching, the N.C. State club table tennis team has high hopes for the 2013-2014 season. The tournament will take place Saturday, and it’s the club’s only tournament of the fall semester.

The Wolfpack Table Tennis Club is a member of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and plays in the Carolina division of the mid-Atlantic region. The Carolina division features teams such as Christopher Newport, Old Dominion, William & Mary and in-state rival Duke.

“Duke is our biggest rival,” graduate student and team captain William Scott James said. “Usually, the divisional tournament comes down to us and Duke yearn in and year out.”

State bested Duke in the last two divisional tournaments, and James said he expects State to continue its dominance against the Blue Devils.

On Saturday, the Pack will travel to nearby Apex for the first of two Carolina division championships. James said he predicts a third straight first-place finish for the team.

“We should win in all honesty,” James said. “Based on our player ratings, it would definitely be an upset if we lose.”

In last year’s two divisional tournaments, the Pack’s A-team finished 6-1 with its only loss coming at the hands of Old Dominion.

Though the Pack has enjoyed recent success in the divisional round, it has failed to advance past regionals.

In last season’s Regional Tournament, the Pack swept Millersville before falling to Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Maryland.

However, James is extremely optimistic in this year’s outlook. He said he believes that this team can not only break through the regional tournament, but have success at the national level as well.

“This is the best team we’ve had in a long time, possibly ever,” James said. “I would definitely say that we have a strong chance in making nationals.”

The addition of French national player Lucas Charpentier has bolstered the already strong Wolfpack roster. Charpentier is in the United States as a transfer student through SKEMA, a French business school with a satellite on State’s Centennial Campus.

“He’s really strong,” James said. “He has a rating of around 2,400, which is top notch and probably the best you’ll see in North Carolina.”

The Wolfpack boasts two other players with ratings at about 2,000: graduate students Lu Jian and Anran Wang. In last season’s divisional tournament, Jian finished 6-1 with a ratio of 1.376 points scored per one point allowed.

James said another reason he believes the team will have more success is because of the members’ experience.

“[This year], we are more prepared,” James said. “We know what to expect where in the past, it was kind of a new thing for us.”

Strategic mistakes had prevented the club from advancing past regionals. In tournaments where clubs play four one-on-one matches, it is beneficial for teams to bring more than four players in order to pick the ideal matchup.

James said that the team plans to bring six members to this season’s tournaments in order to avoid mistakes that have doomed the Pack in the past.

After Saturday’s divisional tournament, the table tennis club will prepare for the second divisional tournament in February. The team is seeking a berth in the NCTTA National Tournament in April.