On its drive for the next CIF championship, the varsity badminton team has no reserve in smashing its opponents. Already weeks into the season, the Brahmas have won five matches without a loss.

“We’re undefeated currently and we haven’t even been tested yet,” coach Kemp Wells said. So far DB has dominated teams from Redlands’ East Valley, Mark Keppel, Wilson, and shut out Mayfield High School. The Brahmas beat Mira Costa, last year’s CIF runner-up, 18-3.

“We’re led by our young men who were on the team last year,” Wells said. “[Senior] Tim Chui has been doing well as a singles player, and the other half of our Chui brothers, [sophomore] Vincent Chui, has been doing really well in mixed and doubles.”

Wells also gives credit to junior Jonah Perea and sophomore Justin Lam, who play doubles and are currently undefeated. On the other hand, Wells hopes to see improvement on the women’s side of the lineup for the next few matches.

“We’ve lost a lot of starters on the women’s side of the lineup, so a lot of them don’t have a lot of experience either at the varsity level or, specifically, in mixed doubles,” Wells said.

Still, Wells claims that seniors Ivorine Do and Claire Chen, new additions to the lineup, have been serving the team well so far. The team hopes to work on improving on mixed doubles as the season progresses.

According to Wells, there is little difference between the beginning of this season and that of the past few seasons, in which the badminton Brahmas have pulled through with impeccable records. They have been undefeated for the past three seasons, and in the past five years have had only two losses from matches against Mark Keppel High School.

While Mira Costa has challenged DB at the finals for the past two seasons, Wells sees little to fear from this team, especially after the Brahmas defeated them in a match already.

“It was at home, which was a huge advantage for us, but we should still be able to have a similar score on a neutral court,” Wells said.

Wells also predicts that the Long Beach Polytechnic High School team may also pose a significant adversary to the Brahmas in the future. Nonetheless, Wells anticipates many more wins as the season continues.