By Robert Barrett
Four members of the badminton team competed in the 2011 Badminton State Championships at City College of San Francisco on Friday and Saturday.
Diana Su, Lisa Vittayarukskul, Ruth Wei and Leanna Xu flew to Fresno on Thursday night then drove to San Francisco to represent East Los Angeles College in the finals.
All four Huskies qualified to play doubles, with Vittayarukskul and Wei forming one pair and Xu and Su forming the second pair. Vittayarukskul and Wei also qualified for singles.
ELAC was in action for both days of the tournament since both doubles teams made it past the first two rounds of matches that were held on Friday. Su and Xu lost in the semi-finals while Vittayarukskul and Wei fell short in the finals.
At the same time, Vittayarukskul and Wei also competed in the singles finals. Vittayarukskul lost her first match, which immediately put her into the consolation bracket.
“I was really nervous. I lost the first round but won my next match,” said Vittayarukskul.
Wei won her first match in singles but lost in the quarter-finals, but because she won her first match, she did not qualify for the consolation matches.
Vittayarukskul won three matches in a row before losing in the finals of the consolation bracket.
By the time ELAC left San Francisco, they had both their doubles teams in the final four of the doubles finals and had a runner-up in the singles consolation bracket.
“All of us did really well. We practiced really hard,” said Vittayarukskul.
Even with the Huskies’ strong end to the season, expectations are high for next year’s team, with hopes that this year’s freshmen will continue to grow and that incoming freshmen will keep the badminton standard high.
“I believe next year’s girls can do better. They kept improving and never let me down,” said Vittayarukskul.
rbarrett@elaccampusnews.com