Walnut badminton dominates San Gabriel and showcases depth in preseason

Varsity badminton triumphed 19-2 against San Gabriel on March 3 in their second preseason game.

Mixed doubles pairs captain senior Ariel Zhao and freshman Patrick Hou and sophomores Angela Wang and Miro Go and sophomore Jake Song and Ho dominated their matches 21-13 and 21-8, 21-9 and 21-4 and 21-9 and 21-9 respectively. Subsequently, playing boys singles 1, Go and junior Ronald Hou faced strong smashes from their opponents. Fighting back with strategic shots, Go won both of his games, taking one of them to three sets, while Hou lost both.

The doubles portion of the game tested new pairings for the team, mixing newcomers and returners. Girls doubles pairs freshman Lisa Zhang and Zhao and Ho and freshman Victoria Zhu won both their games. Boys doubles pairs Patrick and senior Tony Liu and Song and sophomore Ethan Zhang also won both of their games. Song and Zhang faced strong smashes and offense, describing the opponents’ style to be quick to capitalize on mistakes. 

“Doubles is pretty fun but at the same time, it can be a little bit overwhelming because sometimes it can get fast. You need to know when to speed up the game or when to slow it down,” Song said. “A common thing that they usually did was aim for the backhand, because backhands are usually weaker than forehand.”

For girls singles, sophomore Angela Wang won her match by an average of 15 points each set across two games with long rallies incorporating strategic hits to trick the opponent. Similarly, freshman Bernice Xu won both her games by an average of 12 points. Mixed doubles pair Patrick and Zhao closed the game with wins across both games. 

Building up their skills, the team fended off powerful plays from San Gabriel. Especially with a lot more freshmen joining this year, preseason games allow the team to get a better sense of play for the upcoming season, competing with schools outside of league.

“I am pretty excited for this year, but also pretty nervous about the next couple years because there’s going to be good players joining the league,” freshman Felicia Ho said. “One challenge I faced during my second match [of doubles] was that it got a bit closer than expected. [San Gabriel] were pretty aggressive and had good players and a few of the boys smashed well.”

With increased participation of teammates cheering each other on the sidelines, the game set the precedent for a supportive team environment, as well as a drive to succeed in the season. 

“Our team was good and the morale was up. I feel like when there’s more people [cheering], players kind of feel more pressured or more motivated to do well since there’s a lot of people watching,” captain senior Ben Tirtohadi said. “Hopefully we win California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). Winning league is definitely within our reach because we’ve won league for the past four years. But for CIF, we’ve always come second to Arcadia, so hopefully this year is different.”