The badminton team fell 19-11 in a hard-fought battle against the Mills Vikings on Tuesday afternoon.
The first-seeded mixed doubles team, with seniors Burke Montague Alamin and Weycene Yang, and the second-seeded mixed doubles team, with freshman Jack Trevor and sophomore Amy Tran, both lost to the Vikings. The mixed doubles duo of junior Nicolas Chan and senior Claire Chang also lost, 21-19, 17-21, 15-21.
“I’m good at net kills, but I definitely need to work on just doing more nets and hitting the bird,” Chang said. “Badminton is a sport that might seem easy, but it’s actually pretty hard to get really good. It really challenges me and I learn a lot.”
Next, the first-seeded boys doubles team, seniors Henry Behroozi and Alex Bissell, played a few tough sets, losing the first one 21-13, then winning the second set 21-18. After a tough battle, Mills won the final set 21-9.
“Mills is one of the best schools in the league, and it was pretty close,” Behroozi said.
M-A’s second-placed boys doubles pair, seniors Sacha Deb and Titan Mendoza, secured a 21-18 win in their first set, but lost their momentum and dropped the next two sets 21-13, 21-10.
The third-seeded boys doubles team, freshmen Colin Chien and Elliot Chi, lost their first and second matches 21-11 and 21-16.
M-A’s first-placed girls’ doubles team, freshman Kylie Lam and senior Monika Pataki, lost their match in two sets, as well as M-A’s second-placed girls’ double team, junior Jenna Lee* and senior Celine Chien*.
The third-placed girls’ doubles pair, freshmen Anna Du and Stella Huang, prevailed in a nail-biting, three-set match. After a close 21-19 win in their first set, Du and Huang lost by a margin in their second one, losing 21-18 against the Vikings. In an untiring third set, the duo secured a 21-15 victory.
The first-ranked girls’ singles freshman Yimeng Cai scored the most points of anyone on the team against the Vikings. After swiftly winning her first set 21-12 and her second 21-8, Cai secured three points for the team.
Second- and third- seeded girls’ singles, junior Viet-Tran Do and junior Annika Furukawa, both finished their matches in triumph. Do won both her sets and scored two points for the team, while Furukawa also won both and scored one point for M-A.
First-placed boys’ singles and team captain senior Addison Youngblood fought a difficult and lengthy battle. He lost his first set 21-16 but won his second 21-10, then finally surrendered to his opponent 21-11 in his final set.
Senior Nate Fowler, M-A’s second-placed boys’ singles, won his matches 21-16 and 21-18, gaining two points for the M-A team.
Third-seeded boys’ singles junior Adam Erlebacher made it through a strenuous struggle, losing in straight sets 21-11, 21-10. “My shots were not hitting like they should have, and my opponent was really good,” Erlebacher said.
After a long match, the team fell by eight points to Mills, losing 19-11.
Badminton will return to the court against the Aragon Dons at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
*Weycene Yang, Jenna Lee, and Celine Chien are journalists for the M-A Chronicle.
