Path To South Coast Badminton Title Brighter After Pair of Wins In San Diego

The undefeated Pasadena City College women's badminton team could very well be on its way to the program's 17th South Coast Conference title after recording a 15-6 win over its closest rival San Diego Mesa, then defeating San Diego City College, 13-8, in road matches last week.

On Mar. 14, the Lancers (7-0 overall, 6-0 in SCC action) played number of tough matches v. the Olympians, but prevailed in 11 of the 12 singles contests played. PCC handed Mesa its first loss at now 6-1 (5-1 in conference).

PCC's #1 player Rhea Zou downed Mesa's #1 Megan Nguyen, 21-19, 21-12, but had a tougher time v. #2 Mylene Keophaseut, rallying in three sets, 18-21, 21-18, 21-13. The Lancers' #2 Anh Vu Nguyen Tran defeated Nguyen, 21-18, 21-6, then swept Keophaseut, 21-10, 21-16. 

At #3, Janet Diec got by Mesa's #3 Kathy Lee, 24-22, 21-18, but had her hands full in losing to #4 Millie Touch, including two extra point sets, 20-22, 22-20, 21-10. The Lancers' #4 Uyen Banh rallied to defeat Lee, 16-21, 21-8, 21-10 while sweeping Touch, 21-16, 21-10. 

Pasadena's #5 My Linh Ly swept the Olympians #5 Esther Ngo, 21-14, 22-20, and #6 Ariana Huerta, 21-9, 21-17 while Sophie Chao did the same, flying past Ngo, 21-10, 21-8, and Huerta, 21-16, 21-12. 

In doubles, Mesa's #1 pair of Ngueyn-Keophaseut were better than PCC's top duo of Zou-Tran, 21-18, 21-18 while the two Lancers swept #2 Lee-Touch, 21-14, 21-18. Pasadena's #2 pair of Diec-Banh surprised Nguyen-Keophaseut, 21-19, 21-17, but were tripped up by Lee-Touch in a wild one, 11-21, 21-19, 24-22. The single point in #3 doubles went to Pasadena's partners Ly-Chao in a 21-16, 21-18 triumph over Mesa's Ngo-Huerta. 

The next day, PCC visited SDCC as head coach Jen Ho decided to get others playing time against the Knights which made the score closer than expected. Karylle Peralta played at #4 and split her matches, a 21-18, 21-23, 21-17 win over City's #4 Isabella Bejarano and losing to #3 Cecilia Naranjo, 21-14, 21-14. Laura Lin played #5 and picked up a 21-9, 21-11 win over #5 Diana Elbadawi and got a forfeit point as the Knights have just five players. Leslie Lien played at #6 and defeated Elbadawi, 21-12, 21-14.

Tran won her two singles at #1, picking up straight set wins over SDCC's #1 Nicona Maruyama, 21-9, 21-12, and #2 Hailey Carr, 21-10, 21-6 while Diec dropped her matches at #2 to those top two Knights players. Chao played #3 and split her matches, defeating Bejarano, 21-17, 21-12, but swept by Naranjo.

Zou-Tran played doubles and scored two wins, sweeping #1 Carr-Naranjo, 21-19, 21-8, and #2 Maruyama-Bejarano, 21-11, 21-19. Linh-Chao were valiant in a 3-set defeat at #2 against Maruyama-Bejarano, 21-16, 19-21, 21-11. 

"I still feel San Diego Mesa will challenge us next go around like it did on Thursday, but I thought we played well to finish those close wins," Ho said. "Rhea and Anh are really strong top players on our ladder and it takes some of the pressure off the rest of the team that they will get points for us."