Matthew Freer is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mesquite High School for AZPreps365.com

In its final game of the season, the Mesquite badminton team shut out Combs High School 9-0 on October 16.

As per usual this season, the team beat Combs in dominating fashion. In the singles flights, each player on Mesquite won their matches 2-0 and did not have to play a third round. In the doubles flights, there was only one match that went to three rounds. The others were won 2-0.

The team started off slow initially in their flights, but they quickly bounced back and shut out Combs as a result.

“Honestly, I felt like we were a little rusty coming out after fall break and they kind of started playing kind of slow,” head coach Josh Anson said. “But then once they got in a little bit of a rhythm, they were able to overcome the slow start and play dominant like they’ve done all season.”

Over the final week of the break, the team practiced Monday through Friday preparing for the game against Combs. There was one key word expressed by the players when asked about how they were preparing for the game: strategy.

”I’d say that we just have to look to see if they have a strategy and if they do, we have to use it against them,” senior Erin Keefer said. “That’s like the main thing that we’re gonna be looking for.”

The team also focused on things like speed, endurance, and footwork to build their confidence going into the game.

“Our team has been playing pretty well, and every one of our teammates have been putting in the work and practicing,” senior Pravindi Gurusinghe said. “So I was pretty confident in how we were going to go.”

The players had mixed emotions about their individual performances.

“I definitely could have done better,” Gurusinghe said. “I’m a little bittersweet, because it’s our last in-season game. And you know, it’s a lot of mixed emotions. Although I could have done better, I’m pretty proud of how we played and how I overcame my life struggles.”

Senior Skyla Johnson said she was happy with her performance.

“I was hitting a lot of great shots,” Johnson said. “Practice has paid off and I improved from last year, so that’s cool.”

This game against Combs was the final game of the regular season, and now the team is headed into the playoffs. Its first game is against Horizon High School on Monday, October 23. Coming off of the win against Combs, Mesquite is confident that this is the year that the team could potentially have success in the playoffs.

“They criticize themselves for small mistakes, and think that they had a bad game when they let somebody score like nine points,” Anson said. “So I think going into the playoffs, they are at a point now where they feel like we can beat anybody.”