It’s not every day you see a regular-season quad meet featuring the top four finishing state teams from the year prior, but that was the case in Lincolnshire last Friday. The teams competing were defending state champion Fremd, runner-up Stevenson, third-place Neuqua Valley and fourth-place York.
It was all Stevenson with a perfect 3-0 record, winning 21-of-24 matches against the top competition in the state. They beat Fremd 7-1, Neuqua Valley 6-2 and swept York 8-0.
Fremd went 2-1 in the meet, winning 14-of-24 matches, including 13-of-16 against Neuqua Valley (6-2) and York (7-1). Neuqua knocked off York in the other match to finish third.
Stevenson and Fremd have combined to win the team title at state nine times overall, amazingly all since 2007. Fremd won state in 2007, 2009, 2019 and 2024, while Stevenson won state in 2012, 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2023.
Stevenson edged Fremd for the title by half a point in 2022 and 1 point in 2023, while Fremd nipped Stevenson for the state title by half a point last year. Neuqua finished tied for second in 2023 and fourth in 2022, prior to the third-place finish last year.
According to the Illinois Association of Badminton Coaches (IABC), which ranks singles players and doubles teams, the top four doubles teams in state were competing in the quad.
Neuqua Valley’s Luna Han and Kanyanat Vajworarat are ranked No. 1 in doubles, while Stevenson’s Anvi Harish and Charlotte Richards were ranked No. 2, Stevenson’s Nivedya Nair and Katie Moy were ranked No. 3. Fremd’s Samantha Ye and Sophie Zhou are ranked No. 4.
In singles competition, Fremd’s Sophia Lin is ranked No. 1, Neuqua Valley’s Hannah George is No. 2, Stevenson’s Adalyn Shum is No. 4, Neuqua’s Nishitha “Ishi” Reddy (Fr.) is No. 5, Fremd’s Yelang Lee is No. 6 and Stevenson’s Veronica Ornatsky is No. 7. York’s Mia Koenigsberger is ranked No. 12.
Last year at state, Stevenson picked up three individual state medals. Ornatsky went 5-2 at state and finished sixth in singles, while Katie Moy also went 5-2, but didn’t earn a medal. Nivedya Nair went 6-1 in doubles (partner Ruhi Sachar graduated) and finished fifth at state.
Anvi Harish and Adalyn Shum went 5-1 to finish second at state in doubles, losing in the title match to Neuqua’s Luna Han and Kanyanat Vajworarat, 21-16, 21-14. Harish got a rematch against the defending champions at No. 1 doubles with new freshman partner Charlotte Richards, but they fell 21-14, 21-13. Moy competed in doubles with Nair and beat Neuqua’s Amber Shi and Katherine Ye, 21-14, 21-14. Moy beat Shi in singles at state last year in the fourth round of the consolation bracket (21-11, 21-7). Shi went 3-2 at state last season.
Neuqua’s Hannah George is not only the No. 2 ranked singles player, but is also one of the top badminton players in the state over the last four seasons. George owns a 15-3 state record, going 5-1 in each of her three seasons, finishing second in 2023 and third in 2022 and 2024.
George beat Stevenson’s Ornatsky 21-12, 21-10 for one of the Patriots’ rare losses on the day.
Neuqua’s Vajworarat not only won state in doubles last year, going 6-0 with Han, she also finished fourth in 2023 with a different partner. Han and Vajworarat should be favorites again at state, but Stevenson and Fremd will do their best to beat them when they meet up again.
Stevenson’s Shum won 21-14, 25-23 in her battle at No. 1 singles over Neuqua’s Reddy, the state’s top ranked freshman singles competitor.
Shum also beat York’s Mia Koenigsberger, the No. 12 ranked singles player, in their No. 1 singles match, 21-9, 21-14. The Patriots dominated all eight matches against York, with Koenigsberger the only one to score 10-plus points in a set against Stevenson.
Fremd’s Yelang Lee has two state medals already and is looking for No. 3 this year. She went 6-1 at state in singles last year, taking fifth place, and she went 5-1 in doubles in 2023, taking runner-up honors. Samantha Ye went 4-2 in doubles last year at state, while Sophia Lin went 4-2 and grabbed fourth at state in singles a year ago. Lin lost the third place match 21-17, 19-21, 21-15 to Neuqua’s George. Lin got revenge Friday with a win over George. Ye is also 7-4 all-time at state for the Vikings.
In the battle between defending state champion Fremd and state runner-up Stevenson, it was nearly a sweep for the Patriots despite some competitive matches (with IABC ranking):
No. 1 singles: Stevenson’s Adalyn Shum (No. 4) d. Fremd’s Yelang Lee (No. 6), 21-15, 12-21, 21-12
No. 2 singles: Fremd’s Sophia Lin (No. 1) d. Stevenson’s Veronica Ornatsky (No. 7), 21-13, 21-15
No. 3 singles: Stevenson’s Kristen Chen d. Fremd’s Marthe, 21-7, 21-6
No. 4 singles: Stevenson’s Laasya Aduri d. Fremd’s Patel, 21-8, 21-5
No. 1 doubles: Stevenson’s Charlotte Richards/Anvi Harish (No. 2) d. Fremd’s Samantha Ye/Sophie Zhou (No. 4), 21-13, 21-10
No. 2 doubles: Stevenson’s Nivedya Nair/Katie Moy (No. 3) d. Fremd’s Catherine Qin/Riya Maligireddy, 21-16, 21-18
No. 3 doubles: Stevenson’s Vivian Liu/Shradha Koppisetti d. Fremd’s Evangeline Liu/Ksheera Karthik, 21-15, 21-10
No. 4 doubles: Stevenson’s Michelle Zhang/Selina Lei d. Fremd’s Simran Singh/Brianna Wang, 21-15, 21-15
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