De Anza seeking third team title in four years at 3C2A State Women's Badminton Championships
SAN FRANCISCO - De Anza College, undefeated Coast Conference champions and 14-0 overall, looks to return to the throne if it defeats perennial South Coast Conference champion Pasadena City on Thursday, May 8 in the 3C2A Women's Badminton State Championship Team Final. The team final (5 p.m.) is followed by the Individual Singles/Doubles Championships all at City College of San Francisco, Friday-Saturday, May 9-10.
If the incoming favorite De Anza does capture the title, it would be the program's third in four seasons and the North region's fifth consecutive champion after San Francisco won last year and Fresno City grabbed the 2019 crown.
The Mountain Lions already have handed the Lancers (10-2 overall) their only two losses this season, scoring a 17-4 win on February 28 and then 14-7 on April 1. The seven team points achieved by PCC was the most against De Anza all season.
De Anza is led by Coast singles champion Mailan Hoang Vuong, who also won the doubles title with teammate Natalee Lam. PCC counters with the South Coast doubles champion pair of Anh Tran and Janet Diec while Tran was the singles runner-up.
Led by Vuong, the Mountain Lions are paced by a deep roster, including Jenny Thai and Karina Chow, who advanced to the Coast doubles finals.
Pasadena completed its third straight undefeated run to the SCC title (10-0) and the Lancers hold a 32-match conference win streak going into next year.
PCC won back-to-back state titles under Coach Jen Ho in 2017 and 2018, but lost the last two championship finals, a 12-7 defeat v. CCSF last year and an 11-0 loss to De Anza in 2023. Once a team has reaches 11 team points (or more depending on the lead margin), all competition ends at that point. Pasadena has reached the state team final in six of the last seven seasons (no championships in 2020, 2021 due to pandemic).
Directed by head coach Mark Landefeld, De Anza has won four state team titles, including twice back-to-back in 2013-14 and 2022-23. All four were perfect seasons perfomed by the Mountain Lions.
3C2A STATE INDIVIDUALS
In a preview of the state individual singles, the sophomore Vuong defeated Fresno City's PJ Yang in an exciting three sets for the second time in three meetings between the pair during the Coast Individual Championships. Vuong's 21-9, 12-21, 21-12 win gave her a 2-1 series edge. Both could very well meet in the championship singles final. The South is paced by San Diego Mesa and SCC 2-time singles champion Mylene Keophaseut and Pasadena's Tran.
In individual doubles, PCC's Tran-Diec defeated Mesa's pair of Keophaseut and Emily Chindamay, 16-21, 21-16, 23-21, at the South Coast Championships. Keophaseut is the defending state doubles champion (won with now graduated teammate Megan Nguyen), downing PCC's Tran and her teammate Rhea Zou in the 2024 state final. Expect De Anza's Vuong-Lam and Thai-Chow to be challenging as well for the '25 doubles crown.
Release by 3C2A Championships writer/CCCSIA Executive Board member Robert Lewis