Badminton: Neuqua Valley's Chen, Rane win doubles title at Naperville Central Invitational
Midway through badminton season teams still are mixing and matching, gauging talent to fill singles slots and doubles teams.
At the Naperville Central Invitational on Saturday, Neuqua Valley sophomore Sakshi Rane debuted with senior Joyce Chen, one half of the 2017 state champion doubles team.
"With a new partnership it's always just trying to figure out how the other person works, and I think our communication definitely got a lot better, and I think our confidence also improved a lot as we went on," Chen said after the pair went 5-0 at No. 1 doubles.
The fresh duo opened against Hinsdale South's Kaitlyn Hurka and Aimee Puz, then got past Downers Grove North's Natalie White and Susanah Browning in a hard second round. They ended beating Naperville Central sisters Joyce and Kathy Zheng, who forced Chen-Rane into their sole three-game match, 21-10, 20-22, 21-14.
On match point Rane survived a long volley, all aimed at her, before landing the winner.
"I knew they going to target me because she's (Chen) a state-champion senior and I'm kind of just like a newbie," Rane said. "I guess that gives me more practice on the court with other opponents that I may play in the future."
The Zheng sisters went 4-1, pushed to three games also by Hinsdale South's Hurka-Puz and Downers North's White-Browning, representing programs that in the 2017 state finals placed fifth and tied for seventh, respectively.
"What I got out of today was just persistence," said Joyce Zheng, a senior. "We split a lot of games today and it was not easy because we played really hard teams today."
Kathy Zheng, a sophomore, obviously likes to win but learns more in defeat. Saturday's lesson was to attack.
"Definitely don't be afraid to get a little aggressive," she said. "Joyce and I, sometimes we like to lift and do more defense, but I think today we definitely amped up our offense."
Consistent across the board, Downers North won the invite with 29 points, the Trojans' Anne Edwards and Sarah Baran going 5-0 at No. 2 doubles. Naperville Central placed second with 28 points followed by Neuqua (27), Hinsdale South (25), Rolling Meadows and East Aurora.
"With Naperville (Central) here, Neuqua and Hinsdale South we've got some good competition, where you get a measure of where you're at, and our kids performed really well," said Downers North coach Anthony Calderone.
Along with Chen-Rane, Edwards-Baran and Hinsdale South's Maureen Christofaro and Jackie Wojcik at No. 3 doubles, Neuqua Valley freshman Gowri Salem went 5-0, topping Naperville Central's Ria Jha 21-12, 21-13 in her fifth and closest contest.
Typically at No. 3 singles, the 6-foot Salem used length, accuracy and velocity to her advantage.
"The goal is to get more time to be in position and make the other person move around a lot so they get tired," she said. "You start off by clearing and you end by smashing. I think I did my smashes well. That got me a lot of points."