Varsity Badminton fell 18-12 to Saratoga High School in a close game on Thursday, March 7. Boys Singles won all three of its games while Girls Singles lost all of its games, earning MVHS six points in total. Boys Doubles, Girls Doubles and Mixed Doubles each won one of their three games, earning MVHS an additional six points.

Sophomore and Boys Doubles player Ryan Wong says that he and his partner, senior Advait Ramakrishnan, started off their first set slow, but as the game progressed, they began to pick up the pace, which resulted in the pair winning 21-16 in the first set and 21-19 in the second set. After the game, Wong identified some areas of improvement for the duo, such as being more aggressive in certain situations. 

“We talked about a specific strategy and how to win and further get more points,” Wong said. “We also instead decided to play more flat and safe rather than playing risky shots.”

Likewise, senior and Mixed Doubles player Maxwell Ou won his matchup with his partner, freshman Nandita Joshi, in a similar fashion, scoring 21-14 in the first set and 21-9 in the second to decisively win the game. 

“I think my game went pretty well,” Ou said. “I think this wasn’t a very tough matchup and the game ended quicker than I expected. However, I think my dynamic with my partner definitely could have been better because this was my first time playing with [Joshi], but the game still went well.”

Similarly, juniors Trisha Subramanyam and Riddhi Shedge played together for the first time for the Girls Doubles group and won their matchup in two sets as well. Shedge says she and Subramanyam typically don’t play together, so they had to learn how to effectively play with each other.