Varsity Badminton fell 25-5 against Lynbrook High School on Tuesday, March 26. Girls Singles and Boys Doubles both lost all three of their games, losing a total of 12 points. Boys Singles, Girls Doubles and Mixed Doubles each won one of their three games, resulting in a total of five points for MVHS.
Sophomore and Boys Singles player Maxim Gutnik won his Varsity 3 matchup in two close sets of 23-21 and 21-18, earning MVHS one point. With the knowledge that he and his opponent shared similar playstyles, Gutnik went into the game expecting an even matchup. He adds that he typically forms a game plan about five points into the first set after learning how his opponent reacts to drops, clears and smashes, so he can implement specific strategies to counter his opponents’ weaknesses.
“At the start of this matchup, I hit to the very back to see if my opponent reacts with an extremely strong clear or focuses on trying to get themselves to the front or getting me to the front,” Gutnik said. “I realized that my opponent here was trying to push me to the back and was being aggressive with his smashes and his hits to the corners and back.”
Junior Jayden Lim and senior Daphne Huang lost their Varsity 1 Mixed Doubles matchup in two sets, with respective scores of 21-15 and 21-10. As Lim usually plays singles, he found it difficult to shift to doubles games. He notes that he was trying to get used to the new playstyle as he played, but these challenges resulted in increased inconsistency with his shots. However, he says his partner’s support helped him throughout the game.
“My partner Daphne really knew the guy we were playing, so she tried telling me a lot of stuff throughout the game,” Lim said. “She said that when he is receiving the serve, he likes to hit a push to the body or a long drop to the sidelines. Every point she would remind me what shots he was going to do and reminded me to watch out for it.”
Seniors and Mixed Doubles players Maxwell Ou and Sruthi Venkatesan won their Varsity 2 match in three sets, scoring 24-22, 11-21 and 21-11. Ou still feels that he could have played better, especially in the first and second sets, explaining how he should practice more with Venkatesan. Nevertheless, he highlights their effective communication between sets, explaining how they strategized to improve their gameplay.
“We talked about how we could play harder,” Ou said. “On the next set, we decided I would cover more ground and take more shots as they were targeting her a lot. For the next time, we are going to keep training, work harder and come back stronger.”
