The UCSD club badminton team traveled to Yale University, the host of the 2006 Collegiate Nationals, and defended its national title, taking home the men’s and women’s trophies for the third time in the last four years.

“We had pretty high expectations going in,” junior captain Joshua Barroga said. “I don’t think anyone didn’t think we were going to come out with trophies. I was confident that we were going to be first place.”

Despite Barroga’s confidence, the Tritons faced some tough competition in this year’s title run, much more than they have in their previous championships. In UCSD’s top-ranked women’s doubles match, senior Caroline Chen and sophomore Deana Tran rose from a 6-10 deficit to close the game with a 15-11 win.

Wins from other lady Tritons only added to the team’s strong showing in the tournament, as UCSD took first and second overall. Chen and Tran ended up with second place and freshman Samantha Jinadasa and junior Grace Cheung placed in the top spot. Also helping the women to their championship title were senior Lillian Lai and junior Jessie Totten, who made it to the semifinals of the main draw and the consolation draw, respectively.

“We have a lot of good girls, which is fortunate for our school,” junior captain Jessica Totten said. “It’s really nice to have that kind of turnout for the girls.”

The men’s team also impressed the competition, as freshman David Lim and senior Scott Bering lost in the men’s doubles finals to George Washington University’s Sameera Gunatileka and Will Do, who had combined to beat two other UCSD men’s teams earlier in the tournament.

The Tritons also combined to place well in the mixed doubles competition, with duos of Barroga with Jinadasa and senior David Lamb with Cheung adding points to the UCSD total as each team made the semifinals.

The Tritons’ youthful energy contributed to the team’s win, with freshmen Harold Juang and Tim Chen — both unseeded players to start the competition — battling to make it to the men’s singles semifinals.

Although they saw the fiercest nationwide competition at Yale, during the regular season, the badminton team plays against some of the top schools around California in the Southern California Collegiate Badminton League.

Throughout the year, the Tritons squared off against players from UC Irvine, UCLA, San Diego State and many others. A loss to UCLA in a dual match cost UCSD the regular-season SCCBL title.

According to Barroga, however, the loss to UCLA is a sore subject among many of the UCSD players because the Bruins used ineligible players to pull off the win. However, the Tritons ended up with the nationwide title, which should make them feel a little better about the injustice.

The Tritons almost didn’t have the chance to make it to Yale, but fundraising efforts and the support of the UCSD sports club program made it possible for the team to defend its title. The best fundraising effort, according to Barroga, was the Sun God Tournament, which was held on Feb. 18 and was open to the public. Barroga said the annual event alone gave the team $2,000 to put toward the expensive trip to Connecticut.

With the money to prove the validity of last year’s title, the UCSD badminton team used a complete team effort to outperform the rest of the top badminton programs from around the country. Although some players didn’t come home with individual merits, every one of the 20 UCSD players sent to the tournament won at least two matches, meaning every Triton contributed to UCSD’s winning point total.

“It was pretty amazing to see,” Barroga said. “We stood out from the rest of the schools. The courts were covered in yellow jerseys and we had the loudest cheering section.”

Although UCSD received some fan support at the tournament, Barroga expressed disappointment in the reputation badminton has as a sport.

“When most people think of badminton, they don’t think of a real sport,” he said. “They think of a park-and-rec sport or something on the side, but its actually one of the most popular sports in the world next to soccer, just not in the U.S.”

But, with top finishes like at Yale, the sport gains recognition and popularity at UCSD.

“I feel like we’ve come a long way,” Totten said. “Especially since just four years ago when we had 15 people on the team and now we have over 60. It’s nice because you see different schools that don’t have much of a team. And so it’s really great coming from a school that really cares about the sport.”