As expected, the Fresno City College women's badminton team proved too much for Pasadena City College in the CCCAA State Championship Final, 12-5, Thursday at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium. The Lancers 2-year reign on the state first-place trophy ended, although their streak of state final appearances stands now at four in a row.
The Rams (9-0) used a six-player ladder that featured strength across the board in defeating PCC by the end of the third round of play (see complete score box later in release). FCC went 5-1 in singles in the third round and 9-3 overall to earn most of its points. Fresno's No. 5 player Dominique Yang and No. 6 Shakaila Eddings were responsible for five team points between them, including a win in No. 3 doubles over PCC's pair of Nicole Ching and Annjie Li, 21-8, 21-6.
Pasadena (9-3) received most of its support from #1 player Xiaoming Yao, who won two singles matches (two points) and teamed with Sophia Nguyen to earn the team's lone doubles victory (two points). The only other point was scored by sophomore #2 player Jessica Lee, who defeated Fresno's #1 player Soua Kong in the first round in the only match that went to three sets, 21-18, 12-21, 21-13. Nguyen, the Lancers #3 singles, played well but lost both of her singles matches, including a tough 21-19, 21-19 loss in round 3 to Fresno's #3 Nari Chang.
Lancers head coach Jen Ho had an interesting take on her program's fourth state final appearance.
"I'm proud about this year because I did not expect us to get as far as we did," Ho said. "It was different in our two state champion years because we were the favorites and we were much better than everyone else. This year, we didn't have as strong a team and we had one real consistent player in Xiaoming. But we found a way to beat San Diego City in the SoCal final, and that was kind of our championship. We knew Fresno was a better than us and they showed that today."
The CCCAA State Badminton Individual Singles and Doubles Championships will take place Friday and Saturday, May 10-11. Friday's action begins at 12 noon. Yao is a top singles seed along with Lee and the two will be paired in individual doubles.
FRESNO CITY 12, PASADENA CITY 5
SINGLES, ROUND 1
#1 Soua Kong (Fresno) loses to #2 Jessica Lee (PCC), 21-18, 12-21, 21-13
#2 Uyen Napier (Fresno) loses to #1 Xiaoming Yao (PCC), 21-13, 21-11
#3 Nari Chang (Fresno) d. #4 Huyen Diep (PCC), 21-9, 21-3
#4 Stephanie Tran (Fresno) d. #3 Sophia Nguyen (PCC), 21-18, 21-16
#5 Dominique Yang (Fresno) d. #6 Emilee Kintanar (PCC), 21-4, 21-13
#6 Shakaila Eddings (Fresno) d. #5 Nicole Ching (PCC), 21-6, 21-10
DOUBLES, ROUND 2
#1 Kong-Napier (Fresno) d. #2 Lee-Diep (PCC), 21-6, 21-19
#2 Chang-Tran (Fresno) loses to Yao-Nguyen (PCC), 21-18, 21-12
#3 Yang-Eddings (Fresno) d. Ching-Angie Li (PCC), 21-8, 21-6
SINGLES, ROUND 3
Kong loses to Yao, 21-16, 21-18
Napier d. Lee, 21-12, 21-19
Chang d. Nguyen, 21-19, 21-19
Tran d. Diep, 21-10, 21-9
Yang d. Ching, 21-8, 21-7
Eddings d. Kintanar, 21-10, 21-4
The Lancers badminton team with their state runner-up trophy and individual medals.
