Badminton: Adcock, DeClouette back on track for Hinsdale South

After Hinsdale South’s No. 1 doubles team of Emma Adcock and Brittany DeClouette suffered its first loss of the season at the New Trier Featherfest, no one could beat the duo on the home court Saturday.

The tandem stated its case as perhaps the top seed for next month’s state meet with a 21-12, 22-20 victory over Lockport’s Amy Benes and Becca Krzyszkowski to win the A bracket doubles title at the Hinsdale South ABCD tournament.

“It was a huge thrill to win ABCD,” said DeClouette, who’s also starred in golf and basketball at South. “It’s just as big a tournament as State. All the top teams in the state were there.”

The Hornets won the Featherfest on April 14, but tied for second with Lockport at ABCD with 62 points. Stevenson won the ABCD title with 67 points. Those three teams, and Fremd, are expected to contend for the state title in Charleston May 11-12.

The Adcock-DeClouette combination’s only loss came to Nicole Caporusso and Shea Gallus of Prospect at Featherfest.

Adcock was a singles player, and DeClouette played doubles at last year’s state meet, but the duo has taken off as Hinsdale South’s solid top doubles team.

Hinsdale South’s Ashley Yurchak and Samantha Buddig lost in the finals of the C bracket Saturday by suffering a 21-16, 21-14 defeat to Naperville Central’s Tina Xu and Tiffany Zhou.

Senior Andrea McNally, Hinsdale South’s top singles player, lost the A bracket title to Stevenson’s Wan Wan Liu, who won 22-20, 22-19.

“At Featherfest, we were sick — and tired,” DeClouette said. “At ABCD, we were both on top of our game. We talked and we rotated well.”

DeClouette played doubles last season with graduate Anjali Pal.

“This is by far the best partnership I’ve ever had on doubles,” DeClouette said. “We have worked well together since Day 1.”

DeClouette will not compete in sports in college after getting accepted to Penn of the Ivy League. She also considered Dartmouth, but her mother, Dana, graduated from Penn.

Brittany plans on studying pre-med.

The Hornets will be the heavy favorite to win the West Suburban Gold crown at Downers Grove South, beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. The Hornets host their own sectional, beginning May 3.

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