At the CIF SDS Finals badminton doubles match, May 15, against Patrick Henry High School (PHHS), who won the 2023 badminton CIFs, Amy Hu (11) and Kate Liang (10) never expected to win.

After all, not only had Hu and Liang unanimously agreed that they had little chemistry as doubles partners; not only had they underperformed in the semi-finals just hours before; not only were they both mentally worn out from the multiple AP tests they had that week. But Hu and Liang, who’ve been badminton partners for less than a year, were playing against Patrick Henry’s nationally-ranked freshman who, according to Hu, has been playing badminton since birth. However, in spite of it all, the duo managed to beat Patrick Henry’s team in the finals match, 2-1.

At the beginning of said match, though, morale was low.

“If we did this bad in semi-finals, then we’re definitely not going to win finals,” Liang said. “That day, I couldn’t make a single drop shot and my smashes were all over the place. I just told Amy, ‘Hey, let’s forget it. We’re both out of it, so let’s just have fun.’”

With their minds set on simply enjoying the game, Liang and Hu entered the first game against their opponents. Then, halfway through, something unexpected happened: they took the lead.

“[At] 15 points we were leading, and I was like, ‘Oh, we just need six more points to win; let’s lock in,’” Hu said. “It wasn’t big, but we had a slight lead. Out of a 21-point game, six points is the later few points, [so] we realized that we had a chance. We started locking in.”

Encouraging one another by tapping rackets between rounds, the pair proceeded to take the first game, 21-16.

“We were not expecting it,” Liang said. “Already from that, we were really happy because we took the set [even though] we were in terrible condition. In the second game, the adrenaline rush started coming in. We actually had a chance.”

That hope was quickly crushed as they lost 21-9 in the second round.

And so, the pair decided to just have fun with the game again.

As the other matches at the badminton tournament ended, huge crowds from different schools gathered to watch the pair’s game, according to Liang. And as the two entered their third and final game, all eyes were on them.

“I wasn’t expecting to win,” Hu said. “Then towards the middle, it was tied and I was like, ‘Oh wait, maybe we should lock in again.’”

Battling it out, the duo brought the score to 20-17. Match point.

As they rallied back and forth, their opponents backed up as they prepared to smash the birdie, swung, and missed.

“[When the birdie dropped, there] was a tiny moment of silence,” Liang said. “The crowd, everyone just went silent for a tiny, tiny moment. And my heart dropped — not because I was scared. My heart dropped because I was like, ‘I can’t believe it. This is not real.’”

Only seconds later, the crowd started clapping.

Hu and Liang had won the CIF SDS doubles finals against Patrick Henry High School, 2-1.

“Amy and I just looked at each other like, ain’t no way this just happened,” Liang said. “We didn’t show it on court that much because we had to shake hands and say ‘good game,’ but the moment we stepped out of court, we were just jumping and expressing our excitement and we were just so happy.”

To Hu, this match felt like a dream.

“[This match taught me to] never give up before the end of the match,” Hu said. “Anything can happen as long as you try.”