Tournament Review: Adelphi Badminton at the College of William and Mary Tournament

The team that represented Adelphi at the tournament. (l to r: Daylynn Wu,
Matt DeFransisco, Jenna Cavuto, Donald Wunder, Evelyn Rivera,
Alissa Montalbano, Yao Zhao) Photo credit: Jenna Cavuto

The Adelphi badminton team competed in their second tournament of the fall semester this weekend, a tournament hosted on the campus of the College of William and Mary. Unfortunately for the club, they only managed to record one win combined against experienced squads from the host school, Duke University and the University of Virginia, among others.

In women's doubles, Yao Zhao and Alissa Montalbano teamed up along with Evelyn Rivera and Daylynn Wu. Both teams put a a good fight in their first match before losing. Zhao and Montalbano fell in two tight sets with equal 21-19, 21-19 scores, while Wu and Rivera fell in a three-set match, 21-13, 18-21, 21-13. 

In the consolation "D" bracket, Wu and Rivera advanced to the finals. In the final match, they were defeated by a 21-6, 21-14 scoreline and took home the runner-up trophy.

Wu and Rivera's runner-up trophy. Photo credit: Jenna Cavuto

Due to the fact both Kevin Jianchen Xuan and Kevin Ferguson were unavailable for the tournament, Matt DeFransisco and Donald Wunder were Adelphi's only representatives in the men's doubles bracket. 

In the mixed doubles "A" bracket, Wunder and Cavuto teamed up as did DeFransisco and Wu. Both teams were defeated in their first matches.  

Wu & DeFransisco competing in mixed doubles.
Photo credit: Jenna Cavuto

Montalbano paired up George Chang from Duke University as the final mixed doubles pairing. In their first match in the "A" bracket, they were defeated by Rijo Reji and Sharon Ma 21-10, 21-19. As a result, the pairing moved to the "C" bracket. There, they recorded the only win for Adelphi on the weekend as they won, 21-13, 15-21, 21-19. However, their campaign ended in the second round, ironically, by exactly the same score. 

Although it was a tough weekend on the court for the club, they were able to bond off the court and happy to have the experience of playing at a high level. 

"The statement, 'You improve your game when you play better athletes in a sport' is very true," Wunder said. 

Although the team didn't get as many wins as they might have wanted this weekend, they still produced some highlight-reel points. Check out the two videos below!

Yao Zhao comes out on top in a rally in singles with a killer smash!

Matt DeFransisco makes a diving save in doubles, and Adelphi wins the point!