The women’s badminton team endured a rough 2016 season after being undefeated and winning the state championship last year. With an overall record of 3-6, the Lady Knights came in third place out of four teams in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference.

With only two returning players and a new head coach, Darby Duprat, the team struggled during the entire season. The only wins came against the Mesa College Olympians.

“Your first year is always your hardest,” said Duprat. “We faced several obstacles as a team, but we continued to strive.”

Sophomore Thao Le was the number one seeded player for the Lady Knights and one of the returning players from last season. She explained her thoughts on being the number one seed and how she felt about the season overall after their final conference game against Mesa College.

“It’s a lot of pressure and you feel more pressure when you feel like it’s your job to take care of the team. We don’t really have a team captain, so this being my second season on the team it was really tough for me.”

Duprat has high hopes for next season, and looks forward to developing her returning players and seeing what her new players have to offer.