University of Illinois wins
2001 Great Lakes Campus
Invitational
(Gary, Indiana - March 25, 2001) - The University of Illinois won the Great Lakes Campus Invitational on March 25th with an 8-4 win over the University of Chicago. The tournament, which was held at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, included additional teams from Valparaiso University, Eastern Illinois University, Purdue University, Washington University, Indiana University and Indiana University Northwest.
The NBL format takes the sport of badminton, traditionally an individual sport, and lets men and women compete in a co-recreational team effort that includes innovative and fast-paced scoring. Multiple games are played in men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.
Each game won is a point in the total team score, and in keeping with the co-recreational emphasis of the NBL format, mixed doubles is always played as the final event. Teams are allowed to substitute players at the end of each games, and unlike traditional badminton, coaching is allowed during play.
In the Great Lakes Regional championship match, Sergei Krasnyanski and Freddy Lee of Illinois won the two men's doubles games over Donny Chen and Chein Chang Yang. After Illinois' Shannon Pohl and Sarah Sammit split their two women's doubles games with Judy Lu and Katie Monahan, the Illini held a 3-1 lead.
Illinois forged ahead with the solid singles play of Shannon Pohl and Freddy Lee. Pohl defeated Judy Lu in both women's singles games, and Lee edged Donny Chen in both men's singles games. Going into the final mixed doubles event, Illinois increased their lead over Chicago 7-1.
With only one game left, Chicago seemed out of the match, but the NBL format includes an overtime rule that allows a team to stay in the match and make a comeback if it can win the mixed doubles. With the solid play of Judy Lu and Donny Chen, Chicago won the mixed doubles game over Sarah Sammit and Arvind Shankaran, which sent the match into overtime.
With Illinois leading 7-2, Chicago needed to win five consecutive mixed doubles games in overtime in order to tie the score and force a match-deciding tiebreak. If Illinois won one game along the way, the match would be over. In overtime, Chicago's Lu and Chen defeated Sarah Sammit and Sameer Varma, and then took out Shannon Pohl and Sergie Krasnyanksi to narrow Illinois' lead to 7-4. Illinois then sent in the combination of Sammit and Freddy Lee, who finally stopped the comeback attempt of the Chicago duo and gave their team an 8-4 victory.
Illinois was making its first appearance in the Great Lakes Campus Invitational since its runner-up finish to the University of Chicago in 1998. The University of Chicago, after winning in 1998, finished second in 1999 and in 2001.
Savannah Center, Indiana University Northwest
Match results
Pool A: University of Illinois d Washington University 9-0.
Indiana University d Valparaiso University 7-2. University of Illinois
d Indiana University 6-3. Valparaiso University d Washington University
5-4. University of Illinois d Valparaiso University 9-0. Indiana
University d Washington University 7-2. Pool standings: University of Illinois
3-0, Indiana University 2-1. Valparaiso University 1-2, Washington University
0-3.
Pool B: Purdue University d Indiana University Northwest 8-1. University of Chicago d Eastern Illinois University 6-3. University of Chicago d Purdue University 5-4. Eastern Illinois University d Indiana University Northwest 8-1. Purdue University d Eastern Illinois University 7-2. University of Chicago d Indiana University Northwest 9-0. Pool standings: University of Chicago 3-0, Purdue University 2-1, Eastern Illinois University 1-2, Indiana University Northwest 0-3.
Championship: University of Illinois d University of Chicago 8-4. MD: Sergie Krasnyanski-Freddy Lee (Ill) d Donny Chen-Chien Chang Yang (Chi) 17-9, 17-12. WD: Judy Lu-Katie Monahan (Chi)d Shannon Pohl-Sarah Sammit (Ill) 17-11, Pohl-Sammit d Lu-Monahan 17-8. MS: Lee d Chen 17-13, 17-11. WS: Pohl d Lu 17-12, 17-13. MX: Chen-Lu d Sammit-Arvind Shankaran 17-10. OT: Chen-Lu d Sammit Sameer varma 17-5, Chen-Lu d Pohl-Krasnyanski 17-8, Sammit-Lee d Chen-Lu 17-15.
Third/Fourth Place: Purdue University d Indiana University 6-3
Fifth/Sixth Place: Eastern Illinois University d Valparaiso University 8-2
Seventh/Eighth Place: Indiana University Northwest d Washington University 6-3
Final Standings:
1. University of Illinois (4-0, 32 games won)
2. University of Chicago (3-1, 24 games won)
3. Purdue University (3-1, 25 games won)
4. Indiana University (2-2, 20 games won)
5. Eastern Illinois University (2-2, 21 games won)
6. Valparaiso University (1-3, 9 games won)
7. Indiana University Northwest (1-3, 8 games won)
8. Washington University (0-4, 9 games won)
University of Chicago
Purdue University
Indiana University
Eastern Illinois University
Valparaiso University
Indiana University Northwest
Savannah Center, Indiana University Northwest
