KNIGHTS DEFEAT PCC, 11-10, TO ADVANCE TO STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

The San Diego City College women's badminton team is headed to the state championship for the fourth consecutive year after narrowly defeating a strong Pasadena City College team, 11-10, on Wednesday in the Southern California title match.

The Pacific Coast Athletic Conference champion Knights remained undefeated at 7-0 and snapped Pasadena's 13-match winning streak. The Lancers finished 13-1 overall.

Pasadena got off to a good start by winning four of the six first round singles matches to take a 4-2 lead. The Knights got back to within a point of PCC at 6-5 after earning three points on two doubles wins. The Knights No. 1 doubles team of Thao Le and Shessira Paredes defeated PCC's No. 2 team of Eugenia Mendez and Carmina Ortiz, 21-7, 21-19, while SDCC's No. 3 team of Trinh Lang and Margaret Do held off PCC' No. 3 Karina Bustillos and Yinghong Lin, 21-16, 20-22, 21-17.

SDCC did much better in the second round of singles matches, winning four of the six to take a 9-8 advantage heading into the final two doubles matches.

After losing her first match to PCC's No. 1 Rebecca Tzou, SDCC's No. 2 Gina Niph came back to beat PCC's No. 2 Zin Win Maw, 21-12, 21-16.

The only Knights that won both singles matches were No. 3 Cassandra Ka and No. 6 Margaret Do.

In the final round of doubles, the No. 2 team of Le and Paredes swept Pasadena's No. 2 team of Mendez and Ortiz, 21-11, 21-13, to clinch the victory for the Knights.

"I'm not very happy with the way we played, but I'm happy with the result," said Head Coach Son Nguyen who is now making his seventh state championship appearance.

"Some of the points we lost in the first round of singles were because our players were too nervous," said Nguyen. "We have to work on nervousness so they don't lose like that again."

The Knights will play DeAnza College for the third straight year in the CCCAA State Championship match on Thursday, May 7 at 3:00 p.m. on the campus of Irvine Valley College.

The DeAnza Dons defeated the Knights, 12-9, in 2013, and 19-2 in 2014. Since Nguyen took over as head coach in 2006, the Knights have gone on to win state titles in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2012.

ROUND 1 SINGLES:
#2 Zin Win Maw (PCC) def. #1 Thau Le (SDCC) 21-9, 21-19
#1 Rebecca Tzou (PCC) def. #2 Gina Niph (SDCC) 16-21, 21-13, 21-15
#3 Cassandra Ka (SDCC) def. #4 Carmina Ortiz (PCC) 21-18, 21-15
#3 Eugenia Mendez (PCC) def. #4 Shessira Paredes (SDCC) 21-17, 23-21
#6 Prescilla Lam (PCC) def. #5 Trinh Lang (SDCC) 21-14, 21-17
#6 Margaret Do (SDCC) def. #5 Ying Wen Lin (PCC) 21-9, 21-15

 ROUND 2 DOUBLES:
#1 Niph/Ka (SDCC) def. #2 Mendez/Ortiz (PCC) 21-7, 21-19
#1 Tzou/Zin Win (PCC) def. #2 Le/Paredes (SDCC) 21-16, 21-20
#3 Lang/Do (SDCC) def. #3 Karina Bustillos/Yinghong Lin (PCC) 21-16, 22-24, 21-17

 ROUND 3 SINGLES:
#1 Rebecca Tzou (PCC) def. #1 Thau Le (SDCC) 21-18, 16-21, 21-17
#2 Gina Niph (SDCC) def. #2 Zin Win Maw (PCC) 21-12, 21-16
#3 Cassandra Ka (SDCC) def. #3 Eugenia Mendez (PCC) 21-10, 18-21, 21-15
#4 Carmina Ortiz (PCC) def. #4 Shessira Paredes (SDCC) 13-21, 21-19, 21-19
#5 Trinh Lang (SDCC) def. #5 Ying Wen Lin (PCC) 21-11, 21-12
#6 Margaret Do (SDCC) def. #6 Prescilla Lam (PCC) 21-15, 18-21, 21-5

ROUND 4: DOUBLES
#1 Tzou/Zin Win (PCC) def. #1 Niph/Ka (SDCC) 21-10, 21-10
#2 Le/Paredes (SDCC) def. #2 Mendez/Ortiz (PCC) 21-11, 21-13