PCC Clinches 12th South Coast Conference Crown
With its 21-0 win over El Camino College-Compton Center on Friday, the Pasadena City College women's badminton team clinched at least a tie for the program's 12th South Coast Conference title. It's the second consecutive crown for second-year head coach Jennifer Ho, who has compiled an impressive 22-1 overall record thus far in her career. The Lancers also extended their SCC winning streak to 19 matches under Ho's leadership.
PCC (9-0 overall) is 7-0 in conference play, including five shutouts. The Lancers have outscored their SCC opponents by a whopping 139-8.
Friday's home win sets up the SoCal Championship match as PCC will host Pacific Coast Athletic Conference champion Irvine Valley (9-0) on Wednesday, May 4. The match to determine one of the state finalists will be played at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium (3 p.m. start).
Only once has PCC won the SoCal title–2010. Last year, San Diego City defeated the Lancers, 11-10. Pasadena is 1-8 in its history in regional finals matches. PCC has never won the state team title as it lost to City College of San Francisco, 11-10, in '10. The sport was officially sanctioned for California Community Colleges as a women's only sport in 2000.
Against Compton, Rebecca Tzou, Sandra Maw, Diana Resendiz, Ana Espinoza, Jennifer Delgado and Hong Yan Liu all won a pair of singles matches in straight sets. In doubles, defending state champion duo Tzou-Maw surrended only 16 points in two match victories. Espinoza-Eugenia Mendez also won two matches while the No. 3 team of Delgado-Resendiz scored its lone match win.
On Friday, April 22, PCC will likely become the sole conference champion when it hosts El Camino. East Los Angeles is 5-2 in second place and would be mathematically eliminated. The Lancers then play their conference finale on Friday, April 29 at ELAC.
"We know the road ahead, so now it's a matter of focusing on playing our best badminton in order to be ready for the SoCal," Ho said.