Badminton secures a 20-10 win over Wilcox High School on its senior night
Matadors end last home game in a victory
Junior Myles Vongnakhone and senior Lance Fuchia laugh as Fuchia receives his senior speech.
April 17, 2023
Varsity Badminton defeated Wilcox High School 20-10 in its senior night match on Thursday, April 13. The Boys and Girls Singles players dominated their competition, winning all six matches and earning MVHS 12 points. While none of the Mixed Doubles players won their matches, Girls Doubles and Boys Doubles also performed well, with each pair winning two out of three matches.
The final match of the day was Varsity 1 Girls Doubles, in which senior Andrea Liang and junior Sruthi Venkatesan faced off against a pair from WHS. Despite losing the first set 21-9, they bounced back, winning the next two sets 21-8 and 21-17 and filling the gym with the sound of cheers.
Senior Vidya Bhardwaj, who won her Varsity 2 Girls Singles match and earned MVHS two points, found that the atmosphere of the senior night game was different from other games because her friends were there, along with a larger audience. With this added pressure, Bhardwaj says that her performance declined in the second set, which she lost 21-8, after winning the first set 21-12. However, she was able to make a comeback and won the third set 21-10.
“I think my shots were very strong and flat — they just felt really good,” Bhardwaj said. “Later in the third set, when I started getting advice from people, I stopped making silly mistakes and I’m glad I got to improve my cross shots.”
Senior and captain Lance Fuchia, who won his Varsity 1 Boys Singles match, says that MVHS’s win can be attributed to both the spirit of senior night and the experience of the team in comparison to WHS. Bhardwaj agrees and adds that the game caused her to reflect on her progression as a player on the badminton team over the last four years.
“After this, I still have four more games, so it doesn’t feel like it’s the end of my season yet,” Bhardwaj said. “I feel like in my past four years, I’ve definitely grown and I’ve definitely gone through some ups and downs because I stopped training as much as I used to.”
Similar to Bhardwaj, Fuchia finds that he has come a long way throughout the entirety of his badminton career at MVHS. For him, badminton has been a defining part of his high school experience.
“In such a short time, we’ve gone from tiny freshmen to seniors,” Fuchia said. “It’s pretty surreal that this is happening. The first two years were cut short by COVID, but junior and senior year were really rewarding because I was able to learn leadership [and] teamwork.”
