Great Neck South's Kayla Wu steamrolls through the field to take Nassau girls badminton title

Kayla Wu was her usual dominant self during the Nassau Individual Badminton Tournament and claimed the singles title for a second straight year for Great Neck South, defeating Jericho freshman Judy Liang in straight sets Saturday.

“Back-to-back singles champion sounds good to me,” Wu said.

Utilizing a deathly combination of endurance and pinpoint shot placement, she digs deep into her arsenal of shots to tire her opponents physically and mentally. She boasts a keen sense for the game and seems to always know her opponent’s next move.

“The accuracy on her shots and her footwork are amazing,” Liang said. “You just don’t know where she is going to hit her shots.”

Wu took her first three matches with ease in straight sets winning, 21-4, 21-3; 21-4, 21-5; and 21-3, 21-6, before defeating Jericho’s Jasmine Peng in the semifinals. 21-5, 21-7, and meeting Liang in the finals.

In a rematch of last year’s singles championship matchup, Wu defeated Liang, 21-5, 21-6. Despite the familiar opposition and similar dominance, Wu still nitpicked her game while relishing her accomplishment.

“I messed up on serves more than I expected, which was disappointing,” Wu said. “But I had a lot more fun with it this year and I got to enjoy this experience more.”

Taking after Wu’s example, first-seeded duo Hannah Cheng and Emma Ding in the doubles bracket won their first three matches, 21-15, 21-6; 21-5, then 21-4; 21-7, 21-9, before facing off in the finals against their sixth-seeded teammates, senior duo Sarah Hao and Joy Yang.

“We felt they had a competitive advantage over us since they see us practice every day,” Ding said. “And with them being seniors, we felt like the underdogs.”

The freshman duo ground out a closely contested first set 29-27 before handily winning the second set 21-13 to earn both the title and bragging rights in a fiery, yet friendly match.

“They are all absolutely talented and a pleasure to work with,” Great Neck South coach Allison Gottfried said of her girls. “I’ve never been prouder [of a group of young women].”