Paly’s varsity badminton team hopes to improve its results in future games by preparing with more drills and conditioning after notching one win and one loss in its first two non-league games.
The team lost to the Homestead Mustangs on Tuesday, 9-21, and won against the Carlmont Scots on Wednesday, 18-12.
“We would liked to have done a little better,” coach Jon Prentice said. “Homestead is a little tough to play.”
According to coach Kara Prentice, players on the girls’ varsity singles team all moved up because neither freshman No. 1 player Karine Hsu nor senior varsity No. 1 mixed doubles player Kathy Ma were able to play.
As a result, junior Michelle Tran, who played varsity No. 3 last year, was bumped up to varsity No. 1 to play Homestead’s freshman Sharon Ng, Hsu’s doubles partner for the 2008 Junior Nationals.
Tran, unable to keep up with Ng’s returns, could not score a point in her games and lost, 0-2.
Junior singles player Kathy Woo substituted for Ma in varsity No. 1 mixed doubles. Because of a lack of communication and false line judgments, Woo and her partner, senior Allen Chen, lost, 0-2.
Junior Ivan Zhou played hard against Homestead’s No. 1 boys’ singles player. After losing the first match, Zhou returned with harder smashes and clears, and eventually won the second match. The third and final match was close, but Zhou was defeated, 1-2.
Sharing Jon Prentice’s perspective, several members felt disappointed at their performance, and thought that Paly should have won against Homestead based on last year’s performance.
“We should have beaten Homestead because they were the only team we beat last year,” Tran said.
According to Kara Prentice, Homestead, along with Paly, was in the upper division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, the De Anza division. Paly’s varsity team tied with Homestead in overall league rankings, but because Paly had a better JV record, Homestead was moved to the lower El Camino division of SCVAL.
While the varsity No. 1 players all lost to the Mustangs, the JV team triumphed, 8-7.
Both varsity and JV teams performed better against Carlmont. Varsity No. 1 girls’ doubles and boys’ doubles won their games while No. 1 mixed doubles and No. 1 boys’ singles lost.
Varsity No. 1 girls’ singles Hsu overwhelmed her opponent with quick returns. Hsu won both matches, 15-0 and 15-1, respectively.
In varsity No. 3, Tran played against an opponent closer to her level. Although she lost the first match, she won the second, 15-12. However, in a close third game in which she matched her opponent point for point, Tran lost, 13-15.
“I felt really nervous at first; that’s why I lost my first match so badly,” Tran said. “I regained some confidence later because I realized that I had more endurance that my opponent.”
Kara Prentice views these first two non-league games as a chance to get the team used to playing matches, to know team members’ strengths and weaknesses, and make the proper adjustments accordingly.
“It was just a chance to get people used to playing others,” Kara Prentice said.
The badminton team also faced Los Altos High School at Los Altos in the last non-league game of the season and won, 19-11.
The team’s first league game will be away against Monta Vista at 3:30 p.m. on March 31.