Naperville North badminton claims Sectional title

Naperville North badminton hosts a sectional with Glenbard East, Glenbard, South, Downers Grove South, Riverside-Brookfield, and West Aurora.  The top four singles and doubles players advance to next weekend’s state finals. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.

Naperville North Freshman Kelly Hu advances to the singles final

Competing in singles for Naperville North is Freshman Kelly Hu who starts her day taking on Downers Grove South’s Anayanancy Bandera in the semis.  Things get going between the two players as a back-and-forth hitter set ends with Hu catching Bandera off angle and smacking the birdie down for the point.  

A little later, Bandera tries to go short range, but Hu quickly recognizes it and sends the birdie back where the Mustang can’t get to it in time giving her another point.  

Then to ice things off a little in the second set, Hu once again catches Bandera off guard going long range and making the Mustang player run.  Hu advances with a straight-set victory of 21-11 and 21-3.  

Kotryna Petreikyte and Abby Wang shine in the semis for the Huskies

The top doubles team for Naperville North is Kotryna Petreikyte and Abby Wang as they start off against siblings Grace and Joy Shim of Glenbard South In the semis.

The Huskie duo would take command early on after a back-and-forth round, Petreikyte shoots this one past the Raider duo giving them the point.  

After some more back and forth in another round, Petreikyte once again gets the edge as she slams this floater to the ground giving the North duo another point.  They advance to the finals with straight-set scores of 21-14 and 21-12.

Ellie Brandt and Claire Flanagan win the singles championship for Glenbard East Badminton

In the finals, two-seeded Petreikyte and Wang take on the one-seeded Glenbard East duo of Ellie Brandt and Claire Flanagan.   The first set would be action-packed starting with  Brandt firing a shot off Petreikyte that hits the ground giving Glenbard East the edge.  

The Huskie duo would come right back, however, as a continuous hitting round ends as the Ram’s duo is unable to clear the net giving North some momentum.  

Then, Wang gets in on the action as she hits a floater that neither Rams player can get to in time, extending the advantage for the Huskies.  

However, the Glenbard East duo would come right back, to close out a set one thriller.  Brandt and Flanagan try multiple different angles before Brandt gets the birdie to land giving them the point.  They win the finals with straight-set scores of 24-22 and 21-4.  

Hu continues to swing well in the finals for the Huskies

Now onto the singles final. Kelly Hu advances taking on Emily Puth of Glenbard East.  Early on Puth would have her way as she hits a floater that Hu struggles to get to in time and can’t clear it over the net giving the Rams player the edge.  

Then a little after that, a short-range match turns ugly for Hu as Puth catches her off-angle and goes long giving her another point to her total.  

However, Hu would strike back.  A few possessions later, this back-and-forth floater match from short and long-range finally ends as Puth hits the birdie right into the net allowing Hu to get back in it.  

Naperville North badminton wins the sectional

Then to cap things off in set two, Hu remains resilient in another back-and-forth standoff which ends with Puth being unable to clear the net again.  Hu, along with Cherise Lee advances to state in singles, while Petreikyte and Wang also help contribute to Naperville North badminton and their Sectional win and will head to state.  Glenbard East finishes second while Downers Grove South finishes third.