Bears Crowd Podium at Badminton Counties
On Tuesday afternoon, Jerry Liu, Mary Wang, Melody Li, and Leslie Kang earned the highest individual finishes at the Suffolk County Badminton Championships in the history of the program.
Jerry Liu, ranked #2 overall out of 29 players in the boys’ singles bracket, took 3rd after dispatching Walt Whitman’s top player in the consolation game. Liu made it into the semifinals after a first round bye, a second round win over Smithtown West #2 (15-9, 15-7), and a quarterfinal win over Commack #2 (15-13, 15-7) before falling in a three-set semifinal thriller vs. Half Hollow Hills #2 (15-10, 7-15, 5-15).
2nd-seeded Mary Wang took 4th in the girls’ singles tournament, winning in round one vs. Northport #3 (11-9, 11-0), in round two vs. Walt Whitman #2 (11-9, 4-11, 11-8), and in the quarterfinals vs. Smithtown East #2 (11-5, 11-3) , before calling to Commack’s #1 player (0-11, 5-11).
The fourth-seeded doubles pair of Melody Li and Leslie Kang also made the semifinals after winning their round one match vs. Smithtown West #2 (15-7, 15-12) and their quarterfinal match vs. Smithtown West #1 (15-9, 15-7) . They fell in the semifinals to the overall #1 seed, Half Hollow Hills #1.
Both teams meet Commack in the semifinals of the Suffolk County team tournament this afternoon.
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