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Austin Dike | Phoenix Staff

Kim Kramer wins her #1 singles match against Bryn Mawr at Tarble Pavilion on Monday.

BY DANNY FRIEL

In print | Published February 26, 2009 — Updated February 28, 2009 21:53

The #6 Swarthmore varsity badminton team continued a successful season earlier this month at the Mid-Atlantic Badminton Classic, hosted by Bryn Mawr College on Feb. 14-15. The tournament saw face-offs between 191 players from 13 states, including collegiate and non-collegiate players.

2008 National Collegiate Badminton Championship doubles finalists Kim Kramer ’10 and Maithili Parikh ’10 defeated a Virginia squad of Aarthi Prakash and Srividhya Prakash (21-10, 21-16) to reach the semifinals of the women’s doubles tournament in the Mid-Atlantic Classic before falling to top-seeded Daphne Chang and Mingzi Zhang (21-14, 21-16), the eventual winners of the tournament.

Kramer, the top-seed in the women’s singles tournament, fell to eventual winner Min Chern in the finals (21-13, 21-14). Chern narrowly prevented an All-Swarthmore final by defeating Parikh in her semifinal (22-20, 25-23).

Captain Karma Lama ’09 also played well at Bryn Mawr, reaching the quarterfinals in the women’s B bracket before falling to the University of Rochester’s Alex Atkinson (21-14, 21-17).

Swarthmore hosted Bryn Mawr Monday at Tarble Pavilion and dropped the match by a score of 4-5. In December, the Garnet edged the Owls by the same score while on the road. This time around, Swarthmore played without #3 singles player Celeste Abou Negm ’09, who had to miss the match in order to take an exam. Still, Lama filled the void to win at third singles behind individual wins by Kramer and Parikh, but with only one doubles victory (Kramer and Parikh), Swarthmore lost the best-of-nine contest. The Garnet drops to 4-3 with the loss.

As the varsity season winds down, Kramer and her teammates have set their sights on the Pennsylvania State Open, to be hosted by Albright College on March 7. Lama cites a holistic training regimen as an area of focus in the upcoming weeks, explaining that each player looks to “improve overall” and search for “concrete results.” The Garnet will look for such results at PA States next month. “We would like to end the season on a high note,” Lama said.

Kramer and her teammates won’t shoot for the collegiate national tournament this year. Because of an Intercollegiate Badminton Association rule that limits an athlete to three appearances in the national tournament, Kramer and Parikh, though juniors, have only one year of eligibility remaining. So, the talented duo will wait until 2010 to take another crack at the national doubles title. “[Head Coach] Bhavin [Parikh] thought it would be best if I took off this year and played senior year, because I’ll have more experience, and there’s a higher chance of it [the tournament] being on the East coast,” Kramer explained.

For the meantime, however, collegiate nationals is out of sight and out of mind for Kramer. “Right now I’m focusing on PA States,” she said.

Coach Parikh (who is of no relation to Maithili Parikh ’10) has a particular goal in mind for the state tournament. “Regardless of who wins, we want to have both Kim and Maithili in the finals,” he said, noting that this would be the second consecutive all-Swarthmore final at the Pennsylvania state open — the one-two punch of Kramer and Parikh ousted the rest of the field in 2008.

The Pennsylvania State Open is just that – open. Though the Garnet faces only collegiate squads in dual matches, tournaments like this provide exposure to elite-level opponents, a step up from the local circuit.

Kramer and Parikh each will continue to play in senior-level national ranking tournaments after the collegiate season comes to a close. Kramer, who is currently ranked #25 nationally by USA Badminton, will next compete at the Boston Open in May. “I still haven’t decided whether or not I’ll play adult nationals,” she said. The U.S. Senior National tournament will take place in Manhattan Beach, California in late March. The tournament will feature a pool of elite athletes, including members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.

The Garnet will cap the 2008-2009 dual meet season tonight when they travel to the University of Pennsylvania. The match begins at 7 p.m. and will be the final regular season appearance for the team’s three seniors — Negm, Lama and Rosanne Breakenridge ’09.

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