After finishing the season with a record of 8-0, the women’s varsity badminton team returned victorious from the championship tournament held on May 1, 2, and 3 at Roland Park Country School.
“I was kind of surprised. We’ve never been in the finals before. This year though, since we were in the B conference, it gave them something to work for,” badminton coach Tess Gauthier said.
In previous years, only one division of badminton existed for high school teams. However, after the creation of many other badminton teams in other high schools, another division was added.
Gauthier explains that the team “never had a chance to beat other schools….We’ve always been in the middle [in past years],” she said.
At championships, every singles player or doubles pair was given her own seed based on her individual record. The player or players would then play against each other in a bracket format. If a competitor lost in the first round, she would play in a consolation match against another opponent, since everyone was guaranteed to play in at least two matches.
With the bracket style tournament, members from the same team could play against each other. Consequently, juniors Fiona Van der Steur and Beth Boniface played against seniors Carol Zubrowski and Heather Craze in the semifinals.
“It was a lot of fun, very laid back and easy going,” Van der Steur said. “Beth and I even beat a doubles team we kept losing to in the regular season.”
For every win, the team was given three points. For every win in consolation, the team was given one point. The score for each team was then calculated based off the number of individual points each player contributed.
On May 1, the single tournaments were held. Senior Mary Kate Luft advanced to the semifinals, but lost to an opponent from Maryvale Preparatory School.
Additionally, senior Stephanie Almasy won in every singles match in the second ranking section. “It was an awesome overall experience,” Almasy said.
Singles player junior Kirsten Kyburz said, “It was a really cool experience. I haven’t seen that many good badminton players in a room until now.”
The following day, the doubles pairs competed against each other.
On May 3, semifinals and finals were held to determine which team would bring home the gold. Van der Steur and Boniface lost to Zubrowski and Craze in the semifinals. Zubrowski and Craze then went on to win the doubles tournament.
“Carol and Heather have been playing for four years together. It was great to see them become champions as doubles partners,” Gauthier said.
At the end of the tournament, the results were finally announced.
“We all thought we were the runners up because we were adding up the points, and St. Tim’s was in front but we must’ve added wrong. When we heard they were runners up and we were the winners, we went crazy,” Almasy said. “It was insane and definitely one of the most memorable moments in high school.”
Kyburz shared the same reaction. “We were so excited to hear St. Tim’s as the runner up. When they said first place JC, we all screamed,” Kyburz said.
“Winning the championships for the first time in badminton history was incredible,” doubles player junior Caitlin Johnson said.
By playing badminton, Almasy has “learned that you can do anything if you put your heart into it.”
Johnson also learned to be patient with her teammates by “learning to not take it out on a teammate if [they] lost.”
As for next year, Gauthier said, “I think we’ll be just as competitive next year. Good JV players improved throughout the season.”
At the Spring Athletic Ceremony, awards were given to players from varsity and junior varsity who excelled competitively and supported the team throughout the season. Junior Emily Cassidy received the triple threat award for junior varsity and Carol Zubrowski won the varsity triple threat award.
Sydney Setree is a Managing Editor for the Patriot and jcpatriot.com.