Competing against players from other conferences, the women’s badminton team gained playing experience and learned lessons, which will help the team over its next five interconference matches over the next three weeks.
In the Pasadena Tournament last Saturday at Pasadena City, each player played as an individual. The players faced off against players from East L.A., Grossmont, Orange Coast, Pasadena City and San Diego Mesa.
Tomoe Okaguchi took fourth in the Flight A league and Sabine Kuenstler won in the
Flight B league.
Grossmont won in the singles and doubles in the Flight A league and Pasadena City won in the doubles in the Flight B league.
The Warriors will travel tomorrow to face off against Grossmont at 3 p.m.
Coach John Britton said that the last four interconference games were relatively easy for the Warriors.
The upcoming interconference matches should not be because they will play powerful teams such as Irvine Valley and Grossmont, ranked No.1 and No. 2 in the state respectively.
“We have finished the first round of conference play and we are pleased to see that we are at the top of the ladder; winning matches will be very hard,” Britton said.
Although Arielle Lombardi and Sok Ian Leong missed the Pasadena Tournament, Britton said that each player had a good learning experience.
“They played hard matches against many players they had not played before; some had similar standards and others were better. It was a great learning situation,” Britton said.
The team’s No.1 player Okaguchi played singles games in the flight A league, in which the top three players from each college played. She finished fourth overall.
“I experienced the hardest rally in this tournament,” Okaguchi said.
Okaguchi won two singles games and lost in the third game against Yoko Suzuki, the No. 2 player of Grossmont, 11-4, 11-7.
“It was a good experience for me to face against very strong player like Suzuki,” she said. “Although I lost the game, I found out what I need to work on such as how to receive in the back area.”
Britton said that because of the fatigue from a long-day tournament, Okaguchi lost her third game. But he is positive that she would have beaten Suzuki.
Kuenstler won in her singles games in the flight B league, beating four players.
Kuenstler said that in her third game against Grossmont, she had a hard time to play against powerful player. The game reached the final match and each of them was close.
She won her first match, 11-9; lost the second match, 11-9 and won the final match, 11-9.
“The player from Grossmont was really nice,” Kuenstler said. “I learned to play at my own pace.”
Britton said that the team needs to work on consistency and lessen unforced errors.
“All the players have to cut down those errors if they plan on winning a rally and controlling a rally; a silly mistake can cost a rally and all the hard work,” he said.
The Warriors played San Diego Mesa here yesterday. The results were not known at press time.
“We were lucky and we’ve done really well; during conference matches, we were unbeaten, but the upcoming games will be a lot harder,” Britton said. “So we need to continue to get better.”
