Xavier gets shot at badminton repeat, revenge vs. Chaparral

October 20, 2010 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


It was a no-doubles-needed night Wednesday in the semifinals of the 5A team badminton tournament at Horizon High School.

Defending champion and top-seed Xavier bested No. 4 seed Corona del Sol, 5-0, to advance to Thursday night's final. No. 2 seed and unbeaten Chaparral  vanquished No. 6 seed Chandler, 5-1, to gain the other berth.

Those victories set up a rematch of a regular-season meeting back on Oct. 4 that saw Chaparral slip past the defending champs, 5-4. A similar battle is expected Thursday night with the teams clashing at 6:30 p.m. at Horizon. Last year Xavier eliminated Chaparral in the semis on the way to its title, winning, 5-2.

"It's great to be back in the championship," Xavier coach Nancy Meyer said. "I think we had all our players playing up to their potential tonight. It's fun and we're looking forward to Chaparral. The first meeting was tight. It will come down to who brings their game, and let the chips fall where they may."

Xavier (16-1) didn't have much of a problem with Corona, but Chaparral (17-0) was pushed a bit more than the 5-1 margin of victory showed. Two of the singles matches Chandler lost were in three games. Chaparral sophomore Courtney Foltz, who lost the first game of her match with Chandler's Je  Zhe Newton, came back to win 6-11, 13-11, 13-10. That clinched the match and made doubles unnecessary. The Firebirds Hannah Lewellen regrouped after losing the second game of her match with Chandler's Lesley Le, and nabbed a decisive 11-1 win.

"Courtney's just a sophomore, but she held it together and came back," Chaparral coach Carrie Davis said. "Hannah and Allison (Gordon) did a nice job, too. It's their first state tournament along with Courtney."

Overall, Chaparral has the most experience heading into Thursday's final. Doubles partners and seniors Stacey McGuire and Ashleigh Foltz were the state runners-up last year. Junior Alex Hoffmann was in the mix at state last year as well.

Xavier returns only one player from last year's state title team -- senior Cate Welch. Welch was on the third-place doubles team at state last year and is the top seed in singles this year. Welch's experience showed as she started the match in dominating fashion with an 11-0, 11-1 win over Corona del Sol's Nicole Schwalbe.