Kayla Wu leads Great Neck South to LI girls badminton team title
Kayla Wu of Great Neck South returns for the point during the girls Long Island Championship in Badminton against Ward Melville on Wednesday, June 1, 2022 in Smithtown. Credit: Dawn McCormick
The guttural yelp was so frequent that Kayla Wu could feel her throat getting hoarse.
The Great Neck South sophomore’s expression of joy was almost as demonstrative as her game Wednesday afternoon, as she rolled to a 21-5, 21-6 win over Ward Melville’s Riley Meckley at first singles in the girls badminton Long Island Championship match at Smithtown West High School.
“I just say ‘Let’s Go!’ ” Wu said of her post-point expression. “But, since my voice was so sore from cheering, I could only made the ‘oh’ sound.”
Great Neck South beat Ward Melville, 9-0, in the first Long Island championship in girls badminton since 1983. It was the first Long Island championship won by a team other than Miller Place, a longtime powerhouse in the region.
“It’s insane,” Wu said of the title.
Wu and Meckley were tied at 3 in the first game before Wu rattled off 17 of the next 19 points.
“It took me a little while [to get going],” Wu said. “I was getting really nervous in the first few points . . . During the first match, after she caught up with me at 3-3, I tied my shoes to take a little break. I just thought about what I was messing up on and I think a lot of it was that I was too scared to hit a little too hard or too light. I just thought ‘go all out’ and get confident with my shots.”
Jericho wins boys title
Jericho beat Half Hollow Hills, 8-1, to win the inaugural boys Long Island championship. Nishchith Manjunatha topped Jaiveer Gujral, 21-14, 21-7, at first singles. Manjunatha used the opening game to size up Gujral, leading to a more dominant win in the second game.
“The second set, I knew what I was doing, so it was a better game because I knew what shots I needed to play,” Manjunatha said.
Manjunatha said he thought her played Gujral played well, causing him to have to slightly change hit strategy between sets.
“The first set, he was getting a lot of points on attacking,” Manjunatha said. “In the second set, I really tried to get my rhythm to go to attacking so he didn’t have a chance to win the rallies in his attacking form.”
