As the UAAP Badminton season comes to a screeching halt, both the Green Shuttlers and Lady Shuttlers shattered their three year record of being locked and tied in third.
This season, however, after enduring vigorous competition from the participating universities, the Green Shuttlers took a step back after suffering a downhill trip towards the end of the season wherein their quest for a championship ended without even reaching the semifinals.
On the other hand, the Lady Shuttlers kicked it up a notch after pushing through the final stretch of the eliminations and gained the second spot in the competition after the eliminations and were awarded a twice to beat advantage.
The Green Shuttlers completed their season run at fifth as they bowed to University of the Philippines in their race for a final four spot, while the Lady Shuttlers finished second after a failed bid in the finals against Ateneo de Manila University.
Season mishap
The Green Shuttlers showed promising signs for a season improvement at the start of the tournament after winning four of their first five games against NU, AdU, UE, and FEU. The only squad they lost to during that run was Ateneo in a close matchup that ended in a 3-2 loss. The Green Shuttlers ranked second after their first five games and looked to reserve a spot for the playoffs with a couple more wins.
However, the results of the last two games proved to be a heartbreaker as the Green-and-White failed to withstand UP and UST, ending their season in a tie for fourth place with UP with a 4-3 record. UP went on to win the knockout game against La Salle and the Green Shuttlers stumbled to a final season standing of fifth place.
Ateneo and NU emerged victorious in the Final Four and qualified for the finals, though the finals have yet to conclude as of press time.
Season improvement
As the Green Shuttlers kicked off with a huge start to the season, the Lady Shuttlers started out on the wrong foot, but ended building up a record that would give them a twice to beat edge. Suffering losses to both ADMU and FEU in the elimination round, the squad buffed up their record after conquering the rest of the competition with flying colors with only UE coming close to toppling La Salle’s run for the Final Four.
At the end of the eliminations, the Lady Shuttlers battled it out with FEU for second place and the twice to beat advantage. The match ended in the Green-and-White’s favor with the Lady Shuttlers securing second place after a 3-1 win over the Lady Tamaraws, which was followed up by a 3-0 win over UP to secure the finals match against Ateneo.
Closing in to the tournament’s throne, the Lady Shuttlers suffered a swift defeat at the hands of the defending champions in the wake of a two game finish that ended with 3-1 and 3-2 losses for the Taft-based shuttlers.
Due to the close encounter with the finals throne and with the silver medal at hand, expect the Lady Shuttlers together with the Green Shuttlers to be back next season with better chances and higher opportunities in the league as they continue to push for gold.
