The end came abruptly, but fittingly.
Mountain Pointe won the team state badminton title on Thursday when the doubles team of Geneva Heinkel and Sabrina Martinez finished off their Xavier counterparts to secure the championship.
Martinez and Heinkel have been together all four years of high school, improving and dreaming, of bringing the program its first team title since 2007.
And after the shuttlecock hit the floor at Sunnyslope High it gave Mountain Pointe a 5-2 advantage in the match, meaning the Gators could not defend their title so the other matches stopped, awarding the title to the Pride.
“It was good the seniors won it,” Pride coach Pom Brown said. “They deserved to be the one who did it. They’ve been with us a long time and got a lot better in helping us win it.”
Second-seeded Mountain Pointe finished off an undefeated season and came through on its own expectations of winning the title, which was heightened in the regular season by easily handling the top-seeded Gators.
The other team members were Kiyoko Hashimoto, Vi Koka, Larae Keso and Tegan Wambold, as the total team effort led to the program’s eighth state championship.
“What a great way to finish your career,” said Heinkel, who won the doubles state title with Martinez in the individual tournament last weekend. “We wanted to go out with a bang and that’s what we did.”
