Lesley-Anne Morley
KU women’s badminton team won their first competitive game of the season at Tiffin School Sports Hall on Wednesday evening.
The fledgling Brunel team served up many challenging returns, but the more experienced Kingston first team was steadier and more consistent.
After winning five of the first six matches, Sam Bennet, one of Kingston’s team captains, said: “We’ve won the overall match already, so anything else now is a bonus for us. I think we can do really well this season.”
Still Room for Improvement
Kingston’s veteran doubles team Lilian Yau and Rebecca Staveley-Taylor played the only match that went to three games losing to Brunel’s Jacqueline Lau and Jazz Johnson.
While showing unison during play in their second year as a doubles team, Staveley-Taylor felt they could still improve their performance.
She said: “We were pretty strong last year and we’ve come out strong this year, but we can still only do better.
“We don’t have the stamina and need to work on that a bit more.”
Go All The Way
Kingston rookie Pieta Chan had played badminton for 10 years before joining the team and finished strong with doubles partner Emma Clark.
Chan is confident the team can continue on the momentum of this first win and challenge for the top spot in the league.
Chan said: “I think we can go pretty far. The singles players are very competitive and the doubles players also have an edge.
“I feel that we can fight for the final.”
Singles Matches:
Bennet (KU) v. Wynveldt (BU) 21-8, 21-8 Kingston Win
Sudholter (KU) v. Sim (BU) 21-5, 21-8 Kingston Win
Bennet (KU)v. Sim (BU) 21-4, 21-9 Kingston Win
Studholter (KU) v. Wynveldt (BU) 21-12, 21-7 Kingston Win
Doubles Matches:
Chan/ Clark (KU) v. Lau/ Johnson (BU) 19-21, 17/21 Brunel Win
Staveley-Taylor/ Yau (KU) v. Rixon/Watts (BU) 21-17, 21-5 Kingston Win
Chan/ Clark (KU) v. Rixon/Watts (BU) 21-9 , 21-19 Kingston Win
Stavely-Taylor/ Yau (KU) v. Lau/Johnson (BU) 21-11, 19-21, 15-21 Brunel Win
Amani Haouari
Jade Oates
Shaunelle Harrydass-Clark