Paly Badminton took down Saratoga 17-13 last Thursday. Matches between Paly and Saratoga have always been competitive. Paly lost to Saratoga in the past few matches by slim margins. 

This was the first home game for the Vikings this season. After losing their first match to Lynbrook, players were ready to bounce back. 

“This year, I see a lot of improvement for our own team, and I think we have a very good chance of Saratoga, in fact I think that we are most likely going to beat them,” Sophomore Tirian Melean said before the game. 

One of the main issues with Badminton is the court availability. Participants in Badminton are very high this year which causes many players to have to split courts. During the preseason, many players complained that CCS basketball was causing their practices to go very late. During games, each team only has three courts to warm up. 

“The court availability is atrocious because many varsity players cannot warm up before games,” Melean said. 

All and all, the team looks on with high hopes as they strive to chain together more wins. 

“I think we overall played quite well, last year we were already quite close to beating Saratoga, but with our constantly improving team, we were finally able to win,” Sophomore Veenu Damarla said. 

The Viking’s next home game is Thursday against Milpitas.