The birdies are out, which means badminton is in session between Naperville Central and Naperville North. It’s a crosstown rivalry and a big showdown early in the season. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
North starts out on top
We start with one doubles match from North’s Paige Xu and Abby Wang against Redhawks Zoey Tian and Eileen Zheng. Naperville North and Central went back and forth, with Eileen Zheng losing the racket and Abby Wang hitting down on the birdie for a point.
The Huskies continue to dominate the first set, Abby Wang hits down on the birdie to Redhawk territory to finish the first set 21-10. The second set sees the Redhawks come out on top. Both teams trade returns to each with Eileen Zheng going for the backhand on the birdie to close out set 2, 21-18.
Going into the third set, the Huskies are trying to stay on top with Paige Xu keeping the Huskies in the game by hitting down on the birdie for a point. The Redhawks keep on flying in this set, both Zheng and Zoey Tian work together, with Tian slamming the birdie down past the Huskies. Both Zheng and Tian go on to win the third set 22-20.
Central fights back
Up next are two doubles with Michelle Wang and Ruby Li against Central’s Kavya Peter and Emily He. Both Kavya and He work together to get on the board for a point.
After some good returns, Kavya hits from a far distance that sends the birdie between Wang and Li to score.
However, the Huskies respond to the RedHawks’ score; Ruby Li gets the return from Kavya Peter, then hits down for a point. In the end, Ruby Li closes out the match with a hard smack on the birdie. Naperville North wins 2 straight sets, 21-10 and 22-20.
Naperville North takes one and two singles
Moving on to one singles is Redhawk Zoey Tian and Huskie Erica Lin. Lin gets the birdie flying as Tian maintains her returns. Lin gets the first point with a good backhand over the net as the birdie lands on the ground.
Zoey Tian is returning hard from a long distance by smacking the birdie straight down for a point. The match continues for both opponents, but it’s the Huskies who come out on top in both. Lin closes out the match by smacking the Birdie down, winning 2 straight sets 21-16 and 21-11.
Up next is Naperville North’s Kelly Hu and Naperville Central’s Emily He in the two singles match. Emily He gets the match rolling as she hits the birdie past Kelly Hu, giving He the point. The match continues for both opponents as Kelly Hu gets the upper hand in this set by sending the birdie over and down to win the first set 21-5.
The second set is underway, with Kelly Hu once more going for the point by hitting the birdie high, going down past the Redhawk. The match ends with Hu coming out on top, as He attempts a return to Hu, but the Birdie hits the net, resulting in a win for Hu.
The Huskies dominate
The final match of the day is a singles three from North’s Paige Xu and Central’s Aditi Patel. Xu gets off to a great start with a backhand return over the net for a point while spinning around.
The match continues with a rally that Patel finishes with a nice right-side return.
Xu gets the next serve to go after a nice rally between the two. Xu helps the Huskies take a 14-1 victory on the road.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page.