This past weekend, the Case Western Reserve University Club Badminton’s competitive competition team traveled to Delaware to participate in the 2025 National Collegiate Tournament. The competition was hosted by Club28 with a total of 20 teams competing across Division 2A and Division 2B, with CWRU being among the 12 teams participating in Division 2B. The Spartans claimed the D2B national championship title after two hard fought days of matches.
The first day of the tournament consisted of the 12 teams splitting into four groups and participating in a round robin style competition. CWRU was placed in Group C where they faced Temple University and the University of New Haven.
To start the afternoon, the Spartans met the Temple Owls on the court. The team won seven of the nine events to triumph over the Owls. In singles play, third-year Alvin Huang won 15-8, 15-8 and third-year and competitive team captain Sreya Srinidhi won 15-7, 15-6. The men’s doubles pairing of third-year Tanuj Kannan and first-year Pranav Saran beat their opponents 15-4, 15-7 and both women’s doubles won their matches with duo post-graduate student Jaime Wang and Srindhi (15-8, 15-7) and duo PhD student Oranatt Chaichanasittikarn and first-year Ruhi Sachar (16-14, 15-4). Both mixed doubles teams took the win with third-year Tyler Lin and Wang dominating 15-4, 15-7 and first-year Adrian Cheng and Sachar winning 15-7, 15-7.
Following their afternoon win, the Spartans also beat the New Haven Chargers 6-3. The Spartans took first men’s singles (15-8, 18-16), women’s singles (15-5,15-3) and first men’s doubles (8-15, 15-10, 15-13), with efforts of Kannan, Srinidhi and the pair of Huang and Lin. Both first and second women’s doubles contributed to the Spartan victory with 15-5, 15-8 and 15-7, 15-8 wins, respectively. Cheng and Sachar also added a 15-2, 15-13 win in second mixed doubles.
Day two of the tournament was very exciting for the Spartans as they headed into the semifinals.
Their semifinals match up was the most intense with the Spartans eventually claiming the victory over the University of Pittsburgh. Both teams had collected four wins with the Spartans taking the wins in all the singles matches and the second men’s doubles match. The final point and ultimate victory boiled down to the first women’s doubles match with Srinidhi and Wang.
“The first game, we lost 4-21, so that was really a slap in the face, and almost everyone thought that that was the end and we were going to lose. Similarly, UPitt was so sure they’d win they reduced their cheering intensity too. In the second game, however, we implemented a strategy of just playing long rallies and consistently. Suddenly it became a game of who makes the mistake first – and this worked well for us. We ended up winning a super close second game with a score of 24-22. Every rally was super long, with neither of us really giving up,” Srinidhi said. “It came down to the final game, and we stuck to our strategy. At this point, our opponents were getting tired and starting to slip up more often. We were super tired too, but we knew we had to be consistent and we won with a score of 21-15. It was a crazy mental game and turn around that I think nobody anticipated, not UPitt, not Jaime or I but our team kept cheering us on and coaching us every step of the way, and it just gave me so much confidence – I’m not sure the result would have been the same without them. It was 100% a team effort.”
Lin also commented how the match was one of the most memorable of the tournament.
“The match lasted 55 minutes which was incredibly long for a match and both teams were screaming and cheering at each point trying to motivate the players. For reference, the longest games at this amateur level last around 25-30 minutes,” he said.
After their win against the Panthers, CWRU played the finals against the University of Michigan’s second team. After the exciting morning, the Spartans were able to claim a fast win over the Wolverines, winning 5-1. During singles play, Kannan beat his opponent 21-11, 21-10 and Srinidhi won her match 21-11, 21-11. The Spartans also claimed victories in both men’s doubles with duos Huang and Kim (27-25, 23,21) as well as the pair of Kannan and Saran (19-21, 21-12, 21-15). The women’s doubles pair of Srinidhi and Wang claimed a 21-10 win over their Wolverine opponents, leading the Spartans to win the Division 2B championship title.
As president of Club Badminton, Lin has played a large part in the growth of the team. He commented on the team’s reaction to their championship win.
“I think after we won it didn’t click in many of our heads that we had actually won D2B especially since previous years D2 has always been a big struggle … It was really rewarding seeing the efforts pay off,” Lin said.
Srinidhi also commented how the team’s camaraderie aided in their win.
“I think the biggest advantage of this is that each member has a different background, a different strength and recognizes different aspects of the game, and with everyone comfortable with each other and willing to help the player out, it automatically elevates the player’s game. I remember I was playing the last single’s game, and I knew I could easily win it and the rest of the team did too. But I was feeling particularly tired and I just needed a little motivation and feeling of safety with some people cheering me on. The second I communicated that, people immediately came to cheer me on and I felt a surge of energy and I finished the game that we all knew I would win and secured another point in the final. I think in general, that unconditional support is something you can’t measure how valuable it is, and our team had that, and I am extremely grateful for it,” she said.