Metea Valley badminton impresses on its home court in a 12-3 victory over DVC opponent Naperville North Huskies. This highlight is sponsored by BMO Harris Bank.
The Metea Valley badminton captains welcome Naperville North to the home of the Mustangs as two top ten state finishers from the past two seasons go head to head.
The Mustangs start fast with strong doubles play
Starting with number three doubles where Kaylani Zhang and Vicky Ji from Naperville North go up against Tanmayi Sharat and Vamshika Bejawar from Metea Valley.
The Huskies serving and the rally begins. Players keeping the birdie in the air until a great shot from Bejawar lands right on the line for the point. The Mustangs with a sweep 21-6, 21-8.
At two doubles, Naperville North once again goes with senior Shannon Xu and her freshman partner, Rakshita Ruparel. They will face Riya Alwala and Devangi Kolli for the Mustangs.
You don’t see many aces in badminton, especially in doubles but Alwala gets one for the black and gold with a high, lofting shot that just lands in bounds near the back line.
Shannon Xu gets Alwala to lob one up and the senior captain finishes the point with a powerful smash. Huskies take set one 21-11.
In the second set, all four players get involved with plenty of movement across the court in the long rally. However, this point ends in a similar fashion with the power of Xu overpowering her opponents. North takes the second set by the same 21-11 score.
Anjana Viswanathan and Sri Battula take on Aliesah Romero and Kotryna Petreikyte from North in the top doubles matchup.
Battula serving in the far court and she shows the quick reaction with a return that goes across the court to an open spot on the floor for the point.
Now we see a lengthy rally with Romero going back and forth with both Mustangs early on. Petreikyte is able to finish off the point with a strong return.
The Mustangs take the first set and in set two, Viswanathan uses her power to send a shot down the middle for the point. They take it in straight sets, 21-12, 21-9.
Huskies get strong play from their top singles
The singles rounds get underway. Tanmayi Sharat is back at three singles against Petreikyte. The Mustangs have built a sizeable lead thanks to their 4 through 10 singles victories.
Sharat in the near court as the rally begins. Petreikyte forces her to return with a backhand lob and pounces with a running smash for the point.
The Huskie just gets this serve over the net, but Sharat uses the soft touch to barely get it back over and finish off the point. Nicely done as the Mustang wins a hard fought matchup 22-20, 21-17.
Number two singles features Rakshita Ruparel from North against Sri Battula.
In the first set we see Battula moving across the court well, getting low and flicking a return over Ruparel’s head that lands near the line but in play for the point.
However the young Huskie does not get rattled. She drops back for the return and quickly lines a shot back over the net and out of reach. Ruparel with a tight victory in two sets, 21-16, 21-19.
The final singles matchup sees Anjana Viswanathan from Metea against Shannon Xu. A clash of senior captains.
Both players looking spry in this one as Viswanathan picks up this point as Xu can not reach the return, despite the display of flexibility.
However, Xu rallies back and wins the first set. In set number two, this time the Huskie leaps to return the lob shot and gets it to fall just over the net for the point. A straight set win for Xu, but a team victory for Metea Valley.
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