The Bears overwhelmed the Hillsdale Knights 25-5 in their senior night game on Thursday evening.
The game began with a celebration for the team’s 18 seniors, each of whom received a personalized poster from their teammates.
In boys singles, junior third seed Adam Erlebacher lost the first set 21-13 but came back strong, winning the second and third sets 21-17, 21-16. Senior second seed Nathan Fowler won his first set 21-19 but fell 13-21 in the second before ending on a high with a 21-14 third set to win the match. First seed senior Addison Youngblood won in straight sets 21-14, 21-17.
“I was trying to get back to the basics and really get my shots down, which I think I succeeded at. I was hitting all the shots that I wanted to hit consistently, which was really nice because this match was the culmination of all my effort,” Youngblood said.
The Bears’ girls singles players obliterated Hillsdale with no match reaching three sets. Third seed senior Katelyn Chao played a tight first, winning 21-18. Her momentum continued as she shut down her opponent 21-9 to take the match. Similarly, second seed junior Viet-Tran Do won a competitive first set 21-15 before decimating her opponent 21-6. First seed freshman Yimeng Cai comfortably picked up her three points, winning 21-14, 21-15.
“I thought I could’ve done better in the first set, but after the second, I was pretty happy with myself,” Do said. “After this match, I think that I need to hit more to the corners and move my opponent around because I felt like I hit a lot to the middle where she could get easy shots.”
M-A’s only losses came in boys doubles, where second seed seniors Sacha Deb and Titan Mendoza lost 21-18, 21-12. The first-seeded team of seniors Henry Behroozi and Alex Bissell also struggled, falling 21-14, 21-6. Third seed freshmen Colin Chien and Elliott Chi, however, came out on top, 21-10, 21-12.
Girls doubles picked up all six points. Third seed juniors Annika Furukawa and Jenna Lee won comfortably, 21-13, 21-13. Second-seeded freshmen Stella Huang and Anna Du won their first set decisively 21-13 before dropping the second 15-21. They came back to dominate the third set 21-10. Top seeds sophomore Kylie Lam and senior Monika Pataki also won both sets by a significant margin, 21-14, 21-14.
In mixed doubles, third-seeded junior Nicholas Chan and senior Claire Chang were overpowered in the first set, losing 16-21. They quickly regained their footing, narrowly winning the second set 22-20 and prevailing in the third by 21-12.
“In the first set, I was making a lot of bad mistakes, and it was really frustrating,” Chang said. “In our second set, I put on my glasses, and it got a lot better. After that, the third set went pretty easily.”
The second seed duo, freshman Jack Trevor and sophomore Amy Tram, triumphed in two sets, 21-12, 21-5. First seed seniors Burke Montague-Alamin and Weycene Yang also won in straight sets, 21-18, 21-14.
“We just brought it home and killed the other team, and I’m super proud of everything we’ve done and worked towards,” Youngblood said.
“Badminton’s a really great way to meet a lot of underclassmen, and I’ve built this community with so many different types of people, and I’m going to miss them,” Chang said.
“There are 18 seniors, so I’ll definitely feel their absence,” Do said. “It’ll just be different not to have so many people to look up to.”
“It’s a really nice community, and I just get to talk to everyone around the court and have fun at practice, which I’m gonna miss,” Youngblood said.
The Bears will face the Aragon Dons away on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
