Continuing their winning streak, the Los Altos High School varsity badminton team defeated the Mountain View High School Spartans 16–14 last Thursday. 

Having only won two games so far this season, the Eagles’ confidence was low going in.  

“Honestly, the team hasn’t really been doing too well,” senior Nandini Sharma said. “Mountain View also had some really good players, so going into the game, I thought we would definitely lose.” 

Despite this, the Eagles were excited to face their rivals for the first time this season, and the loud cheers on the court matched their enthusiasm. 

“Mountain View is our number one rival so everyone was even more determined to win,” Nandini said. “Because of that, most of our winning games went all the way to three sets.” 

That afternoon, there were victories and losses all around. Nandini won her singles 2 match and, along with singles 3, earned 3 points for the Eagles. Girls doubles dominated as usual, earning another 6 points for the Eagles. Boys doubles 2 and mixed doubles 3 also won their matches, contributing 3 more points to Los Altos. 

Although the Eagles lagged behind the Spartans at first, singles 2 player senior Julian Chung quickly filled the gap, tying the game 14–14. 

Neck and neck, it came down to the last match of the day: mixed doubles 2. Senior Jared Chua and his partner junior Fiona Yao needed to win to push the Eagles to an overall victory. 

The first set didn’t go in their favor however, as they lost their first set 14–21. 

“We generally start out kind of slow,,” Jared said. “But even though we lost our first set, it didn’t really affect our morale. By starting slower, we had more time to think over and revise our strategy.” 

“We always start with some small issues like forgetting to communicate, but we actually had a smoother start to this game than others,” Fiona said. “Even though we lost the first set, we got to observe our opponent’s play style, which helped us win our second and third sets.” 

As Jared and Fiona played, members of both teams crowded around their court, placing more pressure on the doubles team. 

“Some people were stepping over the lines, but it was nice to have our team cheer us on and support us since they were trying to keep people off the court,” Fiona said. 

In the end, the duo turned things around, winning the next two sets 21–18 — and bringing the Eagles to victory.

“After we won, the team just started celebrating and going crazy, and they started carrying me,” Jared said. 

“Our win surprised me,” Nandini said. “We knew going in that Mountain View was really good, so I was like, ‘Wow, our team can actually beat them.’ I’m really proud of everyone on the team.” 

The Eagles will travel to face Los Gatos High School for a rematch tomorrow at 5:15 p.m.