This year's Hillsboro Table Tennis Open final had a familiar look to it, with the tournament's two most prolific winners tangling for the championship.

This time it was Hillsboro's Mike Plunkett, claiming his eighth tournament title by defeating Rick Goertz of Rochester, who has topped the tournament field six times in its 19-year history.

The tournament, sponsored by The Journal-News and played at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Hillsboro on Saturday, featured players from Peoria, Decatur, Springfield, Bloomington, Charleston, quad cities, St. Louis, and throughout Central Illinois.

Although Plunkett defeated Goertz three games to none (3-0) in the championship, his path to the final wasn't so smooth.

He defeated Tim Tonn of Charleston 3-2 in the semifinals, and that after going five games in two of his four round robin wins.

"I struggled most of the day and was on the verge of being knocked out about a thousand times," Plunkett said. "I was really just lucky."

In his semifinal, Goertz defeated the tournament's defending champion and top seed, Sonny Henderson of Peoria, 3-1.

In doubles, it was Goertz and Glen Hunter of Sherman over Plunkett and Mark Mathews of Hillsboro 3-2 for the championship. The winners advanced to the final by beating Dennis Nolte of St. Louis and Shane Griffin of Hillsboro 3-0 in one semifinal; the runners-up beat John Miller of Harvel and Brad Kendle of Taylorville 3-2 in the other.

In class B singles, Ryan Driskill of Taylorville topped Steve Moroney of Decatur 3-0 for championship. Driskill had advanced to the final by beating Roman Coffman of Mattoon 3-0, while Moroney beat Miller 3-1 in the other semifinal.

Dan Taylor of Taylor Ridge beat Pavel Slepicka of Hillsboro 3-0 to win class C. Taylor made it to the championship be beating Cody Deal of Springfield 3-0 in one semifinal while Slepicka beat Bob Noyes of Hillsboro 3-2 in the other.