Despite the team’s  roster being reduced by one-third because of athletes deciding not to participate because of COVID, the Diamond Bar badminton team made its annual trip to CIF finals, losing to  Arcadia on Saturday, 13-8. 

“I would say that our overall performance is a highlight due to all of the missing talent,” said sophomore Ryan Shin, “We’ve got a lot of people from junior varsity and even those that are on varsity haven’t been showing up.”

Despite all the downsides, the Brahmas still managed to have a dominant season leading up to the finals. Out of the eight matches played over the season, the mixed team only lost one match to Walnut 12-9. 

“In our first loss against Walnut, we noticed that we were weak in the male department and got us to worry about or match with them later in the bracket,” junior Codey Ma said.

In the knockout stage,  head coach Kemp Wells’ team beat San Marino in the quarter-finals and took revenge on Walnut in the semi-finals, beating them both 13-8.

During the rematch with Walnut, sophomore Jedd Perea would debut as one of the team’s strongest players, being recognized by his peers for his skill on the court and how quickly he adapted into the team environment.

“Jedd was the deciding factor in our Walnut match; he was the extra guy we needed to overcome the males in Walnut. Since he joined later in the tournament, none of the teams really expected him to perform so well,”  Ma said.

In the finals against Arcadia, the team started strong by winning the first few mixed games and doubles matches. But according to Ma, the team was struggling with consistency, not being able to find a healthy amount of reliable players that could carry the team over the finish line.

“Against Arcadia, we were outmatched in basically everything. Despite all of that, some of our top varsity players were able to score wins, it’s just that our weaker members weren’t prepared to go against them,” Ma said.

The loss against Arcadia resulted from a lack of players, being outnumbered in varsity players and the newly formed roster not having time for efficient practice.

“In my opinion, we did pretty good, even if we’re missing a lot of our players. It’s great being back cheering on my teammates and playing the sport with them again. There’s a lot of room to improve in all of us and I hope we get to work on that in the next couple of months,” junior Kodi Lee said.