A snowy, cold February night won’t stop these programs from matching up. The Wildcats of Neuqua Valley host the Naperville North Girls Badminton team.
#1 Doubles
We kick things off with Bhavi Barnwall and Helen Zhao of Neuqua Valley facing off against Bhaavya Manikonda and Shannon Xu of Naperville North. Xu is able to get off a brilliant overhand shot to get North off to a good start in set 1.
Set 2 here and after a nice back and forth by both teams, Manikonda is able to slam one home to keep North in the lead.
Match point and the duo of Bhaavya and Shannon are just too much for the Wildcats to handle as Bhaavya smashes in the game winning point. North wins the match 21-5, 21-10
#2 Doubles
Set 1 of this doubles match between Cynthia Zhang and Anjana Bharadwaj of Neuqua vs. Emily Shih and Rosana Liang of North. The wildcats get off to a great start in set 1 winning 21-13
We skip ahead to set 3 we’ve got a great match in this one. Some amazing back and forth action here ends with the Huskies landing the drop shot to get an important point late in set 3.
Match point here and Emily Shih and Rosana Liang are able to close the game out, they win the heated match which went deep into set 3.
#1 Singles
We move to the singles matches and we’ve got the defending state champion Bhaavya Manikonda of North squaring off against Bhavi Barnwall of Neuqua Valley. Here in set 2 Bhavi is able to force a rare miscue from Bhaavya and pick up a big point to try and keep things close.
Bhaavya responds well, however, as she gets this brilliant shot to land after a great back and forth by both players.
Match point here and the defending state champion is able to close out the match and clinch a win for her team as Naperville North defeats Neuqua Valley by a final of 8-7.
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