Badminton: Experienced team allows for successful beginnings

With the experience of this year’s returning players, the team hopes to achieve more wins and to overcome old rivals.

The team triumphed over Gunn on March 22 with a score of 21-9, and achieved the expected win against Wilcox. However, the team was unable to defeat Monta Vista and Cupertino High Schools on March 20 and March 27.

Junior Lauren Chu said the game against Cupertino was “very close,” as the score was 16-14.

“Cupertino is really strong this year,” Chu said. “They were in a lower division last year and we didn’t know what to expect from them this year.”

Senior captain Angie Chang said that the loss against Cupertino might have cost the team a chance at SCVAL leagues, as the team is no longer tied for first in their league’s rankings.

“I think we lost at Cupertino because of last-minute changes,” Chang said. “Some people on the team didn’t play with their usual partners, and it kind of messed up our games.”

However, if Cupertino loses to Monta Vista on April 3, Chang said the team still has a shot.

“Similar to last year, it’ll be very close in a lot of matches. Cupertino gained some new blood that’s very strong,” coach Alex Chan said. “Monta Vista and Gunn will still be formidable.”

The win against Gunn was unexpected, though easily explained through the loss of several key players on Gunn’s team.

“I heard something about the students [at Gunn] that if they were in band or orchestra they weren’t allowed to join the team,” Chu said. “So they have a lot fewer players this year, especially the strong players, and we won by a lot.”

Chan hopes that the team’s experience and star players such as senior Jeff Kuo will lead the team to a higher ranking.

“We were very very close last year in many games, where it came down to a one point or one game difference,” Chan said.

The team plays at home against Milpitas on April 3 and away at Wilcox on April 5. Due to printer deadlines, the matches could not be covered for the print issue.