Badminton: Buffalo Grove wins fourth straight MSL crown

The defending Mid-Suburban League badminton championship team graduated 12 players.

But that wasn't about to stop the Buffalo Grove girls from adding another conference plaque to the trophy case.

The Bison won four of the five doubles championships on Friday night at Fremd High School and then came back and added five of the 10 singles titles on Saturday to ring up a meet-high 61 points for their fourth straight MSL crown.

"I think a lot of people may have been surprised," said 17-year Bison coach Chris VonGrondelle, who has also led the Bison to eight straight MSL East titles. "But as coaches, we knew the kids we had coming back.

"They have worked real hard during the season, and in the off-season."

Hersey took second place, followed by West champ Fremd in third place and Schaumburg fourth.

Saturday's No. 1 singles crown went to Fremd's Hannah Chen. The Bison took the No. 2 title with senior Allison MacDonald while Conant's Bhavana Bheen was tops at No. 3.

BG also won singles titles at No. 4 through 7 with (in order) junior Katie Jarosz, junior Gabby Yordanova, junior Megan Gamber and senior Sarah Altieri.

MacDonald was the No. 7 singles champs last spring while Jarosz was the No. 10 singles champ as a sophomore.

MacDonald earned the No. 1 doubles title on Friday with Tori Appelt. The highly-regarded state-ranked duo is 31-1.

Gamber and Jarosz won the No. 2 doubles title while Chen and Jenny Li of Fremd won at No. 3.

BG won the No. 4 doubles crown with Altieri and sophomore Bella Berns and the Bison took the No. 5 spot with freshmen Claire McLoone and Emma Bond.

Macdonald was the No. 3 doubles champion a year ago while Jarosz won at No. 5.