On Thursday afternoon, the badminton team won its fourth consecutive PSAA Tournament Championship, following an 11-0 semifinal victory over Long Island Lutheran and a 10-1 win over Portledge in the final.

An afternoon of contests at the Long Island Badminton Center began with the Bears’ semifinal match vs. LuHi. Russell Yu (21-6, 21-8), Kien Nguyen (21-10, 21-15), Rania Lajmi (21-9, 21-9), and Irene Qin (21-5, 21-7) won singles matches for The Brook. Aidan Riley and Andrew Wong (21-2, 21-13), Nancy Zhang and Ivy Sung (21-6, 21-8), Serena Zhou and Evelyn Yu (21-8, 21-8), and Emily Yao and Daniel Wong (21-7) won doubles matches. LuHi contributed three forfeits to the rout.

Portledge edged Knox in the other semifinal, earning the right to play a team that has yet to lose a regular season or playoff match in their four seasons in the PSAA. Russell Yu (21-10), Nguyen (21-5), Steven Yu (21-3, 21-6), Lajmi (21-1, 21-1), Qin (21-2, 21-3), and Ariel Yu (21-2, 21-3) swept the singles matches. Riley and Wong (21-8, 21-6), Alvin Zhou and Daniel Kim (21-0, 21-8), Zhang and Sung (21-15, 21-13), and Yao and Wong (21-5, 21-8) wrapped up the victory by winning four of the five doubles matches.

The victory gave the Bears a seventh postseason championship this year, all of which came at the expense of Portledge. Boys’ cross country, girls’ cross country, girls’ tennis, boys’ soccer, girls’ basketball, and boys’ tennis each won playoff titles against the Panthers this year. The Bears have beaten Portledge in 20 postseason finals since joining the PSAA in 2018.

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