Varsity May 10th and May 11th were the IHSA Badminton State Championships! The team had great hopes going into the tournament and surpassed those hopes! Every girl won matches at the state meet, contributing to our 8th place finish! Finishing 8th out of 45 teams was a considerable feat considering Hinsdale South was the smallest enrollment school in the state championships! Players of the tournament were Aimee Puz and Kaitlyn Hurka as they steamrolled the competition on Friday and then played awesome on Saturday finish in 5th place in doubles at the end. Aimee and Kaitlyn earned All-State honors! Congratulations ladies on achieving your goal!
Week of April 29th
Varsity The varsity badminton team moved on to the sectional championships at Naperville North High School on Thursday, 5/2. The team consisted of Aimee Puz / Kaitlyn Hurka in doubles. Camryn Hulvat and Danielle Wayman in doubles. Rachel Ng and Kathleen Massa in singles. Keelyn Cranley was the team’s alternate player. The team pushed host Naperville North to the limit and finished second out of eight teams. Rachel, Aimee / Kaitlyn & Camryn and Danielle qualified for the state championships! Kathleen and Camryn and Danielle had some crazy, intense matches during the night and all girls should be proud once again of the effort they gave to our program!
Week of April 22nd
Varsity The varsity badminton team finished off the regular season with a tough quad on Monday, 4/22 against Buffalo Grove, York and Lake Park. The team used these matches to prepare singles line-ups and doubles combinations for the upcoming conference tournament. The team finished off the week with the West Suburban Conference Championships at Addison Trail High School. The girls played tremendously, and after a long hard fought night, ending up coming in second place by 1 point to Willowbrook. The team greatly improved upon their dual meet with Willowbrook and every girl can be proud of their effort! They all literally gave 110% toward our team goal.
JV JV had a competitive quad at Buffalo Grove this week where they went 4-4 with York, 4-4 with Buffalo Grove, and defeated Lake Park 6-2. The biggest news of the week though is that our very own JV team is WSC conference champions ! It was a full team effort by the girls defeating our biggest competition, Willowbrook, by almost 7 points. Hornets taking first at conference included Brigid Rudolph and Nola Colakovic at number 1 doubles, Eva Galdikaite and Samantha Heinking at number 2 doubles, Althea Mei and Rayva Verma at number 3 doubles, and Tina and Andjela Kesar at number 5 doubles. Danielle Droske and Amber Niedermeyer also took second at number 4 doubles losing in a tough split to Willowbrook. In singles, we had champions at numbers 1,2,4,5,6,7 and 9 from Samantha Heinking, Brigid Rudolph, Althea Mei, Tina Kesar, Eva Galdikaite, Amber Niedermeyer and Nola Colakovic. It has been an overall incredible season for the JV badminton team !
Freshman In the spirit of Hornet Badminton, the last quad of the season, we shook things up a bit in preparation for our final tournament of the year. The team responded well to the challenge and was able to come away with two ties against York and Lake Park. On Saturday, the team concluded the season placing third at our last tournament of the year. This tournament was an opportunity for ten singles and five doubles to play. Every position and player made a contribution to the team’s success. The season has been full of wins and we are excited to see the hard work the freshmen put in during the off season lead to great success on JV next year.
Week of April 15th
Varsity Great week of badminton for the varsity badminton team! The girls had hard fought wins against Leyden and Morton. Morton was our senior night and the junior teammates arranged for a wonderful senior night for Aimee Puz, Kathleen Massa, Rachel Ng, Camryn Hulvat and Christina Prizgintas. The team ended the week finishing 5th at the ABCD badminton meet hosted by Hinsdale South with 16 of the best teams in the state.
JV This week JV wrapped up their conference matches with a 15-0 victory over Morton and a 12-3 victory over Leyden. They ended the week with a second place finish at the Lincoln Way West invitational. The most impressive performance was from number two singles player Rayva Verma, who went undefeated for the day and took first place. Despite having only one top finisher, the girls contributed to enough team points to solidify the second place trophy. Contributors to these team points were Nola Colakovic and Eva Galdikaite at number one doubles, Danielle Droske and Amber Niedermeyer at two doubles, and Andjela Kesar and Annalee Price at three doubles. In singles Althea Mei at number one, and Tina Kesar at number three were also major contributors to the team finish.
Freshman The Hornets competed in Conference matches this week and defeated both Leyden and Morton. The freshmen team concluded the week with a competitive tournament at Hinsdale Central. New doubles teams , Jazlyn Randolph and Sekina Electricwala (#2 Doubles) and Gracie Wilcox and Natalie Zimcik (#3 Doubles) had outstanding debut performances preparing themselves for a stellar final week of Badminton.
Week of April 8th
Varsity The varsity badminton team is on a heck of a rollercoaster ride. The team started off with a resounding 15-0 win against Downers South on 4/10, but then tumbled at Willowbrook on 4/11, losing 6-9. The team got back to work the next day and finished a respectful 6th out of 16 teams at New Trier’s Festherfest. Aimee Puz and Kaitlyn Hurka made it to the doubles final match, making them one of the best 64 doubles teams at the tournament! Definitely, they will be a force to be reckoned with as the season continues. The team got knocked down against Willowbrook, but they are learning how to get back up and keep moving forward, because that is how winning is done.
JV This was the best week of the season so far for JV badminton, complete with two conference wins. The JV girls beat Downers Grove South 14-1 and Willowbrook 10-5, taking them one step closer to a conference championship. They also had a perfect score at the Downers Grove North Invitational in which they took first place overall as a team and earned a first place medal at every single position. Sam Heinking won number one singles, Rayva Verma won number two singles, Althea Mei won number three singles and Rachel Sitasz won number four singles. In doubles, Debra Hopkins and Eva Galdikaite took first at number one, Jenna McClelland and Nola Colakovic took first at number two, Amber Niedermeyer and Fiona Choi took first at number three, and Annalee Price and Andjela Kesar took first at number four. We are hoping to secure a conference championship this upcoming week as we face Leyden and Morton.
Freshman The freshman team was faced with tough competition this week. Although unsuccessful against Willowbrook, the team rallied together at practice with fire and determination in order to improve for this week’s tournament. The freshman hosted their first home tournament of the year. It requires all hands on deck to run a successful 16-team tournament and we appreciate the efforts of everyone who helped coach, encourage, support their teammates. The team finished in third place with great performances from: Nadja Nikolic (#3 singles), Maya Fakhouri and Juliya Makkil (#2 Doubles), and Jazlyn Rudolph and Saja Abu Suwelem (#4 Doubles).
Week of April 1st
Varsity The varsity badminton struggled the week right after spring break. The Hornets lost a difficult match to rival Hinsdale Central. Though, Sydney Huang was a bright spot of the meet, winning at 5 doubles and 10 singles. The Hornets started to head in the right direction in their quad meet on Friday, 4/5, but then took a big step back finishing in 4th place at the Naperville Central Invitational. The team continues to learn how to deal with these setbacks and continue moving forward…because that is how winning is done.
JV The JV badminton team had their best week yet, starting the week off with a 9-6 victory over Hinsdale Central. At the Glenbrook South quad they went 4-4 with Wheaton Warrenville South, 3-5 with Glenbrook South, and 7-1 with Oak Lawn. To end the week, the JV girls were champions out of ten teams at our own Hinsdale South JV invitational. Samantha Heinking and Brigid Rudolph both took first at number one and two singles, and Rayva Verma took third at number three singles. Debra Hopkins and Eva Galdikaite took first at number two doubles, while Amber Niedermeyer and Fiona Choi placed third at number three double. Kristina Kesar and Sneha Mittal also took second place in number two doubles. Also contributing to team points were Jenna Mcclelland, Nola Colakovic, and Althea Mei. We are looking ahead to a great week of conference meets!
Freshman The freshman team returned from Spring Break facing tough competition from Hinsdale Central. The team gracefully bounced back from defeat by placing 2nd at the Glenbard North Invite. The team was led to victory by Gabrielle Alcantara (#1 Singles), Myah Fakhouri and Molly Savage (#1 Doubles), Gabrielle Coultier and Gracie Wilcox (#2 Doubles), and Natalie Zimcik and Sakina Electricwala (#3 Doubles). The team rallied together throughout the tournament coaching each other. Big shout out to Natalie Zimcik and Angela Le for jumping in to the lineup, ready to play, and win the the team points when teammates needed them the most!
Week of March 18th
Varsity The varsity badminton team continued their journey towards understanding how to play “hair on fire” badminton. With great wins against Andrew and Addison Trail High Schools, the team finished the week at our host Spring Break tournament. The team played well at this tournament finishing in second place by a single point! Jade Carrillo and Christina Prizgintas won fourth doubles. Kaitlyn Hurka and Aimee Puz won first doubles and sophomore Diana Temelkova finished in second place at third singles.
JV JV kicked off the week with a 11-4 victory over Andrew High School. JV also had their first conference victory beating Addison Trail 15-0. On Saturday we had an impressive 2nd place finish at the Metea Valley invite. Danielle Droske and DJ Hopkins were number one doubles champions and Jenna McClelland and Nola Colakovic also took home first place at number two doubles. Samantha Heinking and Rachel Sitasz both took home 2nd place medals for number one and number four singles. Rayva Verma, Amber Niedermeyer, Annalee Price and Catherine Fatigato also contributed to the team’s second place finish. We are looking forward to a relaxing spring break and will be back to take on Hinsdale Central April 2nd.
Freshman The freshman badminton team had a successful week of play beating all opponents and finishing in first place at the Sandburg Invite. Leading this team to victory this week, were Gabrielle Alcantara at #1 singles, Myah Fakhouri and Gracie Wilcox at #2 Doubles, Jazlyn Randolph and Saja Abu Suwelem. All team members contributed to the phenomenal performance this week. We look forward to seeing what the team will accomplish during the second half of the season after spring break.
Week of March 11th
Varsity The varsity badminton team started off the week with a few questions that needed to be answered. With only five seniors on this year’s team, it was going to be interesting to see how fast the juniors and sophomore adapt to varsity badminton. The team had an eye-opening experience at Fremd High School and the girls left that contest knowing the hard work that faces them ahead. The team finished the week with a great match against Lyons Township and some awesome individual efforts in the Karnstedt Invitational held at Hinsdale South on Saturday, 3/16. Kathleen Massa played some “hair on fire” badminton at the Karnstedt Invitational coming in first place at third singles.
JV This week JV had a strong start to the season with a 6-2 victory over HF, a 7-1 victory over LWC and an 8-0 victory over Oak Forest. We played a tough 4-9 dual against Fremd mid week with significant wins for Samantha Heinking at number 1 singles, Greta Frank at number 6 singles, Brigid Rudolph and Nola Colakovic at number 2 doubles and Danielle Droske and DJ Hopkins at number 1 doubles.
JV had a 4th place finish at the Glenbard East invite held on March 16th. Samantha Heinking earned 9 team points with a 4th place finish in the A bracket. Debra Hopkins and Danielle Droske finished 2nd place and Jenna Mcclelland and Nola Colakovic finished in 3rd place both in the B bracket. Eva Galdikaite and Fiona Choi took 2nd in the C bracket while Andjela and Kristina Kesar placed 4th. Rayva Verma and Greta Frank took 5th and 6th in the C bracket respectively. Althea Mei also contributed to the team total points entering the C bracket.
Looking forward to seeing what we can do this week against Andrew and at our first conference match.
Freshman The freshman Badminton team started out the season with some valuable learning moments and strong competition which led to phenomenal improvement just in time for their fourth place finish at their first tournament of the season. Stellar performances from Angela Le and Nadja Nikoloc (1st place, 3 Doubles) and Molly Savage and Myah Fakhouri (1st place, 2nd Doubles) at our first tournament. The team demonstrated the importance of hard work and team support which will be essential to the team’s future successes.