One day removed from completing a badminton team state championship three-peat in its home gym, Edina played host to Thursday night’s singles and doubles state tournaments. Over more than five hours, 63 singles players and 62 doubles pairings vied for state championships.
In singles, St. Paul Johnson’s Su Meh made good on her preseason No. 1 ranking, winning the championship over St. Paul Harding’s Gaozhia Vue in three sets, 19-21, 21-16, 26-24.
“I’ve wanted this since freshman year, and I knew I wasn’t going to leave tonight with [second place],” Meh said. “It was hard. I lost a few games toward the end that scared me, but throughout everything I persevered. I fought for my spot.”
Edina’s undefeated doubles duo of Sanna Coma and Ivy Peterson took home their second consecutive state title, knocking off Burnsville’s top doubles pairing of Katie Murray and Natalie Portwood in their final high school match.
Meh held Minnesota’s top singles ranking for all but two weeks this season. She dropped three matches during the season but regained her elite form. With Meh’s win, Johnson extended its record singles champion count to seven.
“That’s the human nature of sports,” Meh said. “There’s wins and losses. You just have to keep doing it.”
Vue began the singles final on the front foot, taking a close initial set, 21-19. But Meh forced a third set with a 21-16 win in the second set. Meh and Vue each had opportunities to seal the championship in the third set, until Johnson’s No. 1 prevailed 26-24.
Peterson and Coma, who took home Edina’s first doubles championship last season, became Minnesota’s first back-to-back doubles champions since Harding’s Mai Tria Lee and Kaabao Yang won consecutive titles in 2005 and 2006. Thursday marked the seniors’ third straight trip to the championship match.
