Sunnyslope, Ironwood win state HS badminton team championships
Saturday's Division I and II high school badminton championships came down to the No. 1 and 2 ranked teams in both divisions, setting up thrilling showdowns for each title at Desert Vista High School.
The crowd went wild as No. 2 seed Sunnyslope clinched the Division I AIA Team Championship in a thrilling 5-4 victory over No. 1 Hamilton. The two teams had been D-I's top teams all season.
Ironwood, meanwhile, overwhelmed Prescott 5-0.
“They were driven right from the start of the season,” Ironwood coach Brett Stafford said. “They knew that they had something special going and came in here ready. My girls were bound and determined to get this championship, they really got after it today.”
Ironwood's number one, Madison Nguyen, secured victory by defeating the singles state champion, Riley Crockett, who won that title last weekend.
“Madison jumped up to varsity as a sophomore and I just think she’s going to continue to get better and keep being the great player that she is.” Stafford said. “She’s only a junior.”
At the number two spot, Angelica Mendell secured victory over Maryn Schmitt with scores of 21-9 and 21-12. Simultaneously, Melanie Flores, Ironwood's third-ranked player, also emerged triumphant against Reese Sorensen, winning 21-12 and 21-10.
“Angelica is honestly a shock,” Stafford said. “She was our number five last year. I thought she may was going to stay at that spot. She just shocked me and came through and worked really hard on her game to make it to this spot. She deserves this.”
He added, “Melanie, on the other hand, has been the leader of this team since last year. She holds this group together and holds them accountable. It’s really awesome for her and I’ll miss both my seniors dearly.
Number four, Alyssa Ridgley and number six Mariyah Pera Ray also won their matches for the sweep.
“I am beyond thrilled that we won this state championship,” Mendell said. “We made it as a team and I’m just beyond proud. I love you team.”
“It feels unreal,” Ridgley said. “I don’t think I really processed what has even happened.”
The Division I match was much tighter between Hamilton and Sunnyslope, which had been ranked 1-2 in AIA all season. The match was deadlocked at 3-3. When a team fails to attain five points in singles, the focus shifts to the doubles matches as tiebreakers. The turning point unfolded during the doubles, with Sunnyslope earning a pivotal 2-1 victory.
“I was turning to my other coach and said that this is how a state championship should be,” Sunnyslope coach Sarah Schlesinger said. “It was close, it was exciting, and you have to play the game to find out who wins and I’m so proud of the girls keeping it together and coming down with it.”
Samiya Bodhankar of Hamilton, the 2023 Division I state singles champion and the Huskies number one, outperformed Sabrina Case in back-to-back sets, earning scores of 21-15 and 21-13.
Hamilton also notched two more wins through their second and third players, with Nihira Sane and Katherine Yi both prevailing in straight sets, besting Corinne Valente and Phoebe Roussin of Sunnyslope with scores of 21-11, 21-14 and 21-10, 21-19.
It was the bottom-tier players from Sunnyslope who made a significant impact, as Annabelle Schlesinger and Mia Aronsohn, the number five and six players, secured straight-set victories. They outplayed Saharsa Pechetty and Haley Koh of Hamilton with scores of 22-20, 21-19 and 21-13, 21-10.
The day's only three-set singles match featured a remarkable comeback by Sunnylope's fourth-ranked player, Jessa Jacobs. After losing the initial set 16-21, she rallied to secure victories over Shreya Deshpande in the following two sets, with scores of 21-19 and 21-12.
The start of the doubles matches witnessed clear-cut wins for both the number two and three duos in straight sets.
Hamilton's number two doubles pair, Bodhankar and Deshpande, overcame Case and Valente with scores of 21-7 and 21-12, while Sunnyslope's third doubles pair, Schlesinger and Roussin, notched wins against Cassia Patzer and Brooklyn Tallman with scores of 21-13 and 21-5.
It all boiled down to the number one players, with Sane and Yi representing Hamilton, the doubles state championship runners-up, going head-to-head with Case and Valente of Sunnyslope, who claimed fourth place in the doubles state championship.
Case and Valente, having faced a 14-21 deficit in the first set, achieved a remarkable comeback, closing out the last two sets with two-point wins, with the last set coming in walk off fashion.
“We feel like we are on cloud 9,'' Valente said. “We took it every point at a time and if we just continue to motivated each other, we’re just going to work together and that’s how we ultimately won the game.”
Case added, “We’ve worked so hard to get here, all four years, it doesn’t feel real. I couldn’t have done it without Corrine, we just know how to encourage each other and help each other out.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sunnyslope, Ironwood win state HS badminton team championships
