Ss LUKASZ JONCA photo Coaches Bonnie Cheng and Marc Petreman pose with their team’s medals after the provincial win. The nationals began on Feb. 26. Falcons: Bring on Nationals Badminton team brings swagger to NAIT after provincial triumph BY LUKASZ JONCA angara’s badminton team has paved a golden road to this year’s Canadian Collegiate Athletic As- sociation’s badminton national championships, which started Thurs- day in Edmonton. Langara dominated the PacWest provincial badminton championships this year, winning four gold medals out of a possible five. The only event they did not medal in was women’s singles. It was Langara’s first provincial championship since the 2004-2005 sea- son, breaking Douglas College’s eight- year winning streak. The Falcons are now the top team in the CCAA national rankings. Provincial champions from Langara include Matthew Chan in men’s sin- gles, Hugh Leung and Shurman Chan in men’s doubles, Nathan Choi and Ashley Jang in mixed doubles, Florina Lau and Michelle Hang in women’s doubles. Expectations were high as the team headed to the Northern Alberta Insti- tute of Technology in Edmonton, where they hoped to continue their winning streak against badminton players from across the country. The tournament ends March 1. Coach Mare Petreman credits the team’s success to increased funding by the athletic department, strong re- cruitment policies and a family-like at- mosphere. Jang said “We all get along very well. During provincials we were all cheering for each other. We all support each other during practice, we all play with each other, do drills to help each other out, give each other advice when we think it'll be a benefit.” Assistant coach Bonnie Cheng be- lieves this year’s team has a lot of depth compared to previous years. “In the past, we’ve had players that specialized in certain events. But this year we have a lot more players that can play all three,” said Cheng. “So we can kind of mix up our teams a bit more. Singles, doubles, doubles mixed, lots of versatility for the team this year.” Petreman was named the PacWest badminton coach of the year and hopes that his players will win the team title along with individual gold medals. Fast Facts HE Matt Chan, formerly of Douglas College, joined Langara this year Ml sBy coincidence, Langara broke Douglas’ eight-year provincial winning streak this year HM sThe team is ranked first in the country heading into the tournament Ballers tie record, head to. provincials A Strong end to a nearly perfect season has the men’s basketball team primed for the big contest BY ERIN BOE ball team ended a slam-dunk sea- son by overtaking the Douglas Royals in a 102-59 win last Friday, prim- ing the team for the provincial champi- onship this weekend. This was the last regular season game for the Falcons, tieing last year’s record of 20 wins and one loss. They have a first-round bye in the PacWest provincial championships, which begin Feb. 27. They are currently ranked No. 1 in the Pac West standings. The Falcons won the provincial championships in 2013 and hope to re- peat that achievement this year. They also hope to continue on to the national championships where they had _ fin- ished third last year. Nationals will be held March 12 to 15 in Squamish. “We've had a great year,” said head coach Paul Eberhardt. “We still need to go play the games, but I think the guys are feeling pretty confident about our chances and so am I. “T don’t want to jinx it, but if we win provincials and go to nationals, we'll probably be the No. 1 seed. But there are a lot of good teams. We came close last year so our goal is to get it this year.” Players are also hoping for a repeat win at provincials. “This year, we hope to win it all going in as the No. 1 ranked team,” said pow- er forward Jitinder Lohcham. “There’s a lot of pressure, but we’ve been there before.” Te: Langara Falcons men’s basket- in ERIN BOE photo Brody Greig, pictured, was named the PacWest player of the year. CHRIS SLATER photo Second year student Jolissa Cross- ley on defence at Douglas College Weak season for women's basketball A difficult year plagued by injuries and beset by inexperience, the women look for a reboot next year BY CHRIS SLATER ketball team ended a disappoint- ing season with another loss to the Douglas College Royals in New West- minster on Friday. Having won only six of 21 games, the female Falcons have had a difficult time securing wins this season. Coach Mike Evans said the team’s in- ability to win games comes down to his team needing stronger offence and de- cision-making abilities on the court. “Decision-making is a big one. We are a good defensive team but we real- ly struggle to support the basketball and that’s hurt us a lot, especially in T: Langara Falcons women’s bas- recent games. We’ve also had a couple of injuries,” said Evans. Evans was pleased with the team’s effort at Friday’s game, but admitted the opposing Royals had greater drive than the Falcons. “We didn’t seem to have as much en- ergy as the other team had today, I think that was the big difference. We played well defensively in spots, then we gave up shots in (other) spots,” he said. Despite Friday’s defeat, energy on the court during play was still high among the Falcons, with forward Kar- en Li and guard Toni Li working par- ticularly hard to keep the ball in the opposing court. “T think we have really good energy,” said Toni Li. “A lot of our players are injured, we’ve been fighting through together.” Giving some perspective on the women’s team, men’s head coach Paul Eberhardt said the biggest difference between the men and the women comes down to experience. “The men are an older team, the women are young, mostly first- and second-year players. “We've got a lot of fourth-year guys and having that experience makes all the difference.” For the women, Friday’s defeat marks the end of the season. The 2014- 15 season begins again next fall. 66 A lot of our players are injured, we’ve been fighting through together. Toni Li