Defeating Lemont Township High School, the varsity girls’ badminton team found their first win of the 2021-2022 season on Tuesday night.

The Wolves competed in five doubles matches and 10 singles matches throughout the course of the night, rounding up wins in 11 out of 15 matches played.

Senior doubles duo Kayla Kim and Kailyn Macanip were victorious that night in their second ever match playing together. 

“I’m proud of us,” Kim said. “We figured out how to communicate way better tonight.”

Macanip agreed with her partner and said they worked well together.

“I think a strength for us is that we are both able to bounce off of each other and move well around one another,” Macanip said.

The team continued to find success in their doubles matchups, losing only one match, heavily aiding to the night’s victory.

Doubles partners senior Pranatti Mitta and junior Anshi Mathur also came out triumphant in their matchup, contributing to the program’s win.

“The more matches we play, the more practice we get, which makes us a better team and program overall,” Mitta said.

Despite the duo’s success in their match, Anshi Mathur said that it was a struggle to get to the point they were at. 

“With any doubles partner in general communication is definitely one of the major factors,” Anshi Mathur said. “Because I personally never played with Pranatti prior to this season, we struggled with that but it’s been a really nice experience to communicate with her and grow.”

Communication proved to be a key point in the group’s success and a point of enjoyment for many of the athletes. 

Junior singles competitor Avani Mathur said she could feel the support even though she wasn’t playing with anyone else. 

“The program is really empowering. We don’t put each other down,” Avani Mathur said. “No matter if we lose or win, one thing that we always keep in mind is just to have a positive mindset and keep each other strong, and I really feel that with my teammates.” 

Mitta said that she was able to grow as a player because of the team’s positive environment during games. 

“I really like how close we are as a team because everyone’s super supportive and everyone’s always cheering everyone on,” Mitta said. “We always give each other advice when we watch each other’s games, things that we could work on or things were improving on and it really helps.”

For the future of the young season, Head Coach Craig Morris said he hopes to build off the strong foundation they have set. 

“You can see that on the court with a little bit more confidence coming through, we will be able to have a really great season,” Morris said.

The varsity Wolves will compete in the T.F. South Varsity Grey Invite on March 26th. 

Savina Trujillo is a staff writer for Oswego East High School’s online news magazine the Howl