Lasers’ badminton team, “focused on the birdie”
Duo, Sun and Wang position themselves to defend a serve. (Adam Kolvites)
Inside the Irvine Valley College gymnasium Mar. 8, the Lasers’ badminton team defeated Fullerton 19-2, starting their season off.
Coming off a tournament win at San Diego City the previous weekend, the win against Fullerton is their first regular season victory.
“We got a very young team, a lot of freshman players only two returners, so I thought they did very well,” Head Coach Martin McGrogan said, commenting on his team’s performance.
Yan Sun, the team’s No. 1 player, won all of her single as well as doubles matches with her partner, No. 2 Karen Wang. Sun’s results were single match results 22-20, 21-8 against Peggy Day and 21-19, 21-14 victory over Lena Pham. Her double match results, with help of teammate Wang, were 21-11, 21-7. Sun defeated Dai and Pham, and also won 21-4, 21-9 against Carmen Hau and Caroline La.
Sun said that she was content with her performance, stating she played “okay.” She further commented that she “lost focus” at times, but is “very happy” that she managed a come-from-behind win on her last singles match.
Irvine Valley’s No.2 player Wang, took victory over Fullerton’s Dai 21-10, 21-16 and beat Pham 21-4,21-8.
No. 3 Justine Mayburn won both her matches against Fullerton’s Hau, 21-7, 21-17 She won 21-17, 21-9 over La.
While matched on doubles with Wang, the Lasers battled for the win, trading wins then ending with a decided win in the third match 21-11,17-21,21-14.
Irvine Valley’s No.4 Xin Guan played hard, but fell short against Fullerton’s Hau 21-12, 21-9 and La 21-14,21-13. However, they took a doubles’ win on default with Wah Wah Chen.
Chen also won her single match 21-17, 21-7 against Kayla Moreno and defaulted for her second singles win.
Irvine’s No.6 Lauren Stephens added to the victory as well by outplaying Moreno, 21-14,21-16. She also earned a second win by default.
The Lasers’ badmiton team needs to “keep working hard and focus on the birdie,” if they want to continue winning, according to Coach McGrogan.
The Lasers’ next match up will be against San Diego’s Rosemont College on Mar. 13 at Rosemont’s gymnasium.
Yan Sun eyes up her opponent to strategize her serve. (Adam Kolvites)
Laser Lauren Stephens gets ready to return the birdie. (Adam Kolvites)