This past Sunday, the UCSD badminton team hosted the first league match for the Southern California Collegiate Badminton League (SCCBL) this year. There were 10 schools in attendance at this league match: UCLA, UCSB, UCI, UCR, SDSU, CSUF, CPP, Cal Poly Slo, CSUN, and UCSD.
In this league match, UCSD faced off against SDSU and CPP, emerging victorious with commanding scores of 9-1 against both schools. In men's singles, junior Reno Guo secured wins over opponents from SDSU and CPP with scores of 21-10, 21-11, and 21-10, 21-2 respectively. Reno Guo, alongside grad student Shreyas Kotian, defeated their opponents with commanding scores of 21-7, 21-7, and 21-10, 21-10. Shreyas Kotian continued to prevail in his games with senior Megha Pothamsetty in mixed doubles, securing victories of 12-6, 12-12 against SDSU and 21-10, 21-4 against CPP.
Despite facing a close game against an SDSU pair in women's doubles with scores of 21-8,18-21,19-21, sophomore Nicole Li and junior Julie Li rebounded to claim victory against CPP by 21-19, 21-16. Similarly, sophomore Jessica Qu and junior Hana Ton Nu engaged in closely contested matches, emerging victorious against an SDSU pair with scores of 21-9, 15-21, 21-10, but experiencing a loss to CPP with scores of 21-17, 18-21, 11-21.
The badminton team showcased many new talents in this league match. Freshmen Edwards Tong and Zihan Xu exhibited dominance with wins of 21-6, 21-5, and 21-6, 21-12 against SDSU and CPP respectively. In men's doubles, Edwards Tong with sophomore Jun Lee, also triumphed with scores of 21-13, 21-12, and 21-2, 21-0.
UCSD's stellar performance in this meet, characterized by dominating scores, sets a positive tone for upcoming league matches as the team aims to continue the spirit of victory.