After winning the first place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Badminton League (SCIBL) for the past two years, UCSD started her campaign to defend that title last Saturday (November 14, 2009) in hope of extending that prestigious title for a third year. UC Irvine and UC Riverside are the first to challenge UCSD for the top spot.

Each team featured 3 players/teams for each discipline, tallying a total of 15 matches played between any two schools and 30 matches played in sum for each team. UC Irvine started strong with an onslaught on the Men’s single department by beating all UCSD’s players; the formidable Andrew Todt took down UCSD’s ace Emmanuel Pun in two straight games while the rusty Ronald Sou lost out to Eric Kuo. The third player for UCSD, Nick Schafer, was defeated by UC Irvine’s Calvin Lin in two close 18-21, 19-21 games. UC Irvine took an initial 3-0 lead.

Fortunately, UCSD’s new arsenals of girl players were ready to turn the table around. Freshman Nina Wang and Audrey Chen secured two wins in the women’s single discipline before UCSD veteran Irena Lin neutralized UC Irvine’s lead by winning the last point for women’s single. As if to declare her dominance, UCSD’s girls continued their good run and took down all three points for the women’s double department. The preseason women’s double champions Angela Yee and Aggi Bialy led Amy Chao/Nina Wang and Hannah Wang/Irena Lin into the fray and put UCSD into a good lead. In the Men’s double department, Emmanuel Pun/George Hong lost out to UC Irvine’s Wei/Calvin but their comrades were more than ready to redeem them by securing the other two Men’s double points; Preseason champions Ronald Sou/Alan Liu easily secured a point while the consistent pair John Chen/Nick Schafer, also the semi-finalists of the preseason tournament, helped UCSD reach the magic 8 matches that are required for a school to declare herself victor of the faceoff, sealing UC Irvine’s fate. The preseason Mix double champions George Hong/Angela suffered a shocking defeat while the preseason runner-ups David Lee/Aggi Bialy lived up to their billing and delivered UCSD another winning point. Jonathan Lee/Hannah Wang lost out in their match-up against UC Irvine’s Eric/Maria combination.

UCSD beat UC Irvine 9-6.

Players who were not featured in the faceoff against UC Irvine were given a chance to shine in a matchup against UC Riverside. UCSD’s former captain, John Chen, spear-headed the mission and took down a winning point in the Men’s single game. Current captain Siavash Assar failed to deliver the second winning point in that discipline but the improving Jinyu Song patched it up by beating UC Riverside’s Andrew. After showing flashes of brilliance in the UC Irvine games, UCSD girls continued to contribute by winning the two women’s single matches and the only women’s double match. Terry Chow and Freshman Lisa Chen both played well and the new combination Audrey Chen/Dao showed their prowess by beating UC Riverside’s Judy/Kathleen. However, the Men’s double department suffered heavy losses as all three scratch pairs lost to UC Riverside’s strong pairs. Sun God tournament D-men’s double champions Brandon Ang and Andrew Tran were not granted the nod to play together. Instead, Brandon was paired with freshman Kevin Yang while Andrew was only featured in mix double. Despite losing his double game, Brandon Ang came back strong and won a point for UCSD in the mix matches with sophomore Jennet Liaw. Andrew, however, lost his game with Eva Tseng. Freshmen Duc Tran/Hong sealed the deal with yet another win.

UCSD beat UC Riverside 10-5

UCSD is on a good track to defend her number one spot in the league after beating UCI and UCR but many tough challenges lurk in the future as powerful teams such as UCLA and USC are eager to end her reigns. But if UCSD is able to continue her good run, the dream to extend her number one spot for a third year is within reach.