On Thursday, April 4, the Los Altos High School varsity badminton team tied the Fremont Firebirds 15–15 in a rematch game. Although the score was a tie, the Eagles won more individual matches and emerged victorious.

The Eagles saw outstanding performances across the board, such as boys singles 3 player Kartik Karpenko, who typically plays for JV, winning his match and gaining a point.

“I was very confident and had a ready mindset,” Kartik said. “A large part of badminton is mindset and confidence — it can make or break your match.”

Kartik won his match in just two sets, scoring 21–10 and 21–19. Since it was one of the later matches in the game, many of his teammates supported him on the sidelines.

“In the second set, I hit a trickshot with my backhand, which is usually weak, and I hit it cross-court,” Kartik said. “No one was expecting that, so the whole gym went wild and roared. That felt really good.”

Throughout the game, the Eagles fought the Firebirds for the lead, staying neck and neck until mixed doubles 2 sophomores Allison Ding and Matthew Lee-Asiong played the winning match, gaining the final 2 points the Eagles needed to claim victory. This match was also Matthew’s first after returning from a wrist injury.

“Going into the game, I was extremely excited because it had been a while since I last played,” Matthew said. “During the first set, I was a little rusty as there were a lot of unforced errors that made the set difficult.”

Despite losing the first set 17–21, Allison and Matthew made an impressive comeback and won the second set 21–12 and the third set 21–14.

“As the game went on, we were able to pull off the win through determination and teamwork,” Matthew said.

Aside from improving communication, Allison and Matthew also received coaching from team captains on the sidelines.

“Coaching from the captains really helped us through the sets as they were able to give their insights,” Matthew said. “One of the captains recommended that we focus on targeting one area so a lot of the points were made from targeting the front court.”

In addition to their captains, many players also gathered around the court to watch the high-stakes match.

“It wasn’t until the third set that I noticed how many people were watching us,” Allison said. “I’m very thankful that they were cheering us even if we were losing at first.”

Among the spectators was senior Erik Goode, who finished his match early and observed many of his teammates’ matches from the sidelines.

“Many teams got to the third set which means they improved,” Erik said. “In the last game against Fremont, most of them only got to the second set and then lost.”

Now with a record of 3–5, the Eagles will travel to face Gunn High School on Thursday, April 18 at 6 p.m.