Mills carries PAL badminton banner

Especially in San Mateo County, which has become a hotbed for badminton over the last decade or so and with the availability of facilities and increasing sophisticated club coaching, Peninsula Athletic League badminton players are starting to pile up Central Coast Section successes.

The Mills badminton announced its presence to CCS over the weekend by capturing both the boys’ and girls’ doubles championships. It is the first time since doubles badminton was added to the CCS docket in 1981 that Mills had advanced to the championship match. In fact, the boys’ team of Alex Sin and Caden Liu, along with the girls’ tandem of Kalea Sheung and Charlotte Tse, are only the second and third CCS badminton champions in Mills history, joining Michelle Cheung, who won the girls’ singles title in 2004.

Sheung and Tse were especially dominant as the top-seeded duo did not drop a game and, if we’re being completely honest, was not even really pushed in their run to the crown.

After a first-round bye, Sheung and Tse cruised to a 21-12, 21-5 win in the second round over a Valley Christian team that went on to finish in seventh place.

In the semifinals, they beat a team from Monta Vista, 21-10, 21-16, who went on to finish third in the tournament.

But Sheung and Tse saved their best for last as they blitzed their Lynbrook opponent in the championship match, not allowing double-digit scoring in either game in a 21-7, 21-6 shellacking.

Sheung and Tse’s male counterparts, Sin and Liu, didn’t have it quite as easy, but the result was the same: Vikings conquering CCS.

Sin and Liu, the No. 2 seed, also had a first-round bye before opening the second round with a 21-16, 21-12 victory. Things got tougher in the second round as Sin and Liu needed to go into overtime to pull out a 23-21 victory in the first set, before finishing off the third-seeded squad from Milpitas, 21-18 in the second game.

Facing second-seeded Calvin Zhou and Martin Lu of Lynbrook, the Mills duo had to battle back from a set down, dropping their first set of the tournament, 17-21. Sin and Liu clawed their way to a 21-18 win in Game 2 and then dropped the hammer in the third set, blasting Zhou and Lu 21-7 to clinch the title.

But it wasn’t just Mills’ success at the CCS tournament that drew attention to the PAL. The PAL had seeded players and teams in all five disciplines: boys’ and girls’ singles, boys’ and girls’ doubles, and mixed doubles.

El Camino’s Jon Moser and Carlmont’s Ethan Hsu finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in boys’ singles. In girls’ singles, Carlmont’s Micah Cheng was seeded fifth and made it to the fifth-place match, settling for sixth. Her teammate, Elise Hsu, finished eighth.

In mixed doubles, El Camino’s Alec Lee and Jaylin Lee were the No. 2, but were upset by the eventual champions from Cupertino. The Lees, instead, settled for fourth place. Jason Yang and Alexandra Young of San Mateo were seeded sixth and finished eighth.

In all, players from seven different PAL schools earned points in the CCS team standings.

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It’s kind of a weird week when it comes to high school sports. Usually, we’d be gearing up for first-round, CCS baseball and softball games beginning Tuesday or Wednesday. But this year, CCS is not starting until Saturday. Even more strange is not having the seeding meeting until Wednesday. While those teams that earned automatic bids can carry on with practice as normal, those teams on the bubble will have a couple anxious days of training, hoping that it’s not in vain.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. To report scores or tips, email sports@smdailyjournal.com.