UCSD hosted the Badminton Preseason Tournament for all the schools in the Southern California Collegiate Badminton League (SCCBL). UCSD started off the school year strong with an amazing performance during this year’s Preseason Tournament. Taking place this past Saturday on November 11th,  2023, a total of 5 universities competed; UCI, UCR, CSUN, CSUF and UCSD. The tournament was played at UCSD’s Main Gym. Each school sent up to 4 representatives in each event. The format of the tournament was double elimination with a consolation bracket.

UCSD had participants in every event, achieving remarkable outcomes. In the women's singles category, both sophomore Nicole Li and senior Megha Pothamsetty reached the semi-finals. Despite a hard-fought match against UCI's Duyen Pham, Nicole Li narrowly lost with a score of 19-21, 21-17, 19-21. Megha Pothamsetty, on the other hand, would move on to the finals and secure victory against Pham with commanding scores of 21-11, 21-10. Megha Pothamsetty was also in the women’s doubles finals with fellow teammate, junior Minh Vo. Despite a formidable effort in three intense games against UCI's Jenny Huang and Irene Lee, they fell short with a score of 21-11, 16-21, 16-21. Additionally, in women's doubles, the pair of junior Hana Ton Nu and sophomore Jessica Qu reached the finals of the consolation bracket, engaging in a challenging match against CSUN pair Jean Buenaflora and Trang Le, which they won 18-21, 21-16, 21-16. In the men's doubles category, freshman Matthew Chan and sophomore Shanil Patel reached the finals of the consolation bracket but faced defeat with a score of 21-18, 21-15 against UCI pair Kevin Liu and Aldwin Saguid. Seniors Henry Kang and Benji Ryujin secured victory in the men's doubles finals, dominating with scores of 21-10, 21-17 against CSUF pair Alex Huynh and Michael Ewy.

These significant triumphs over Southern California’s top players instill optimism in the team for the rest of the 2023-2024 badminton season.