It’s Senior Night at Metea Valley with the badminton team welcoming Naperville Central into the Mustang auxiliary gym. Former Metea head coach Nikki Liska in the stands to celebrate the seniors. Both teams looking for a DVC win two weeks out from the DVC tournament at DeKalb. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Metea Valley shows depth in doubles
In two doubles Moneesha Goduguchinta and Saanvi Gupta take on Hannah Chu and Yinuo Zhang from Naperville Central. The Redhawks serve in the far court. Goduguchinta rallies with both Redhawks in the opening set, eventually forcing a return into the net. Metea takes set one 21-14.
Chu and Zhang turn things around in the second set. The Central duo takes the second set with a smash by a score of 21-18 to set up a third set tiebreaker.
Despite trailing at the 11 point break, the Mustangs regroup in the third set following a return from Gupta and a smash from Goduguchinta. Metea wins the third set 21-13.
The Mustangs pick up another win in three doubles with Pragya Iyer and Medha Kotagiri from Metea Valley outlasting Shriya Kunnanath and Audrey Chang from Central in two sets.
Moving up to one doubles where Megan Moreno and Zoey Tian from Naperville Central face Davangi Kohli and Aditi Singh from Metea.
The Mustangs snare an early point as Singh pushes a return near the back line followed by a smash from Kohli that deflects off the Redhawks.
Central bounces back quickly with a Moreno return and a well-placed drop shot from Tian that lands right on the line. The Redhawks take set one 21-15.
In the second set, the Redhawks are able to overpower the Mustangs. Tian with a big smash that Kohli somehow digs out, but Moreno comes right back with a smash of her own for the point. Naperville Central wins one doubles 21-15, 21-9.
Moreno and Tian impress at one and two singles
Metea is able to build a lead by winning the other four doubles matches as the Redhawks look to gain ground in singles with Zoey Tian taking on Pragya Iyer at the number one spot.
Tian with an early serve in the near court. Iyer drifts back and quicky drops a return just over the net for the point as Tian is unable to send it back.
Iyer serving later in the opening set as both players do a nice job covering the court with a series of returns and shot attempts. Tian is able deliver a line drive smash across the court and take the first set 21-13.
Tian looks to put things away in the second set. A series of drop shots back-and-forth near the front of the net are well returned until the Redhawk swiftly uses the backhand to drive home the point. Tian wins the second set 21-11.
Her doubles partner Megan Moreno hopes for a similar result in two singles against Davangi Kohli from Metea. Kohli scores an early point following a great shot as she drifts back and to the right and flicks her return back to the left and out of reach.
However, Moreno is able to gain the advantage from there. After a narrow 21-19 first set win, she takes the second set 21-17 after a good battle. Despite wins in the top three singles spots for Naperville Central, Metea Valley takes the team victory 9-6 after a great day of competition.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page.
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