The Pasadena City College pair of Rhea Zou and Anh Vu Nguyen Tran were state individual doubles runner-up to close out the 3C2A Women's Badminton Championships held May 9-11 at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium.

The Lancers were the SoCal #1 seed, but lost a rematch of the South Coast Conference individual doubles final won by PCC as the San Diego Mesa squad of Megan Nguyen and Mylene Keophaseut won a closely-contested state title match, 22-20, 21-19. At the SCC Championships, Zou-Tran had won 21-14, 20-22, 21-19, 

On Saturday, the first set was close all the way with Nguyen-Keophaseut able to forge a 12-9 lead after no more than two points separating them in the early going. Trailing 13-10, Zou-Tran rallied with four straight points to take a 14-13 lead but the Mesa pair scored the next two to retake the lead.

From there, it was a matter of rallies. PCC strung three in a row together before the Olympians fought back with a 4-0 run of their own, resulting in a 19-17 lead. Zou-Tran used a 3-0 jump to move to game point, but Nguyen-Keophaseut roared back for the next three points for the extended set win.

Mesa's 5-0 run in the second set turned a 9-5 deficit into a 10-9 lead while another 3-0 spurt regained the advantage at 14-12. Zou-Tran put the pressure on late, but Nguyen-Keophaseut scored the final two points to break a deadlock and capture the state title. 

"Our players fought hard and it was just one or two points that decided the match," said PCC head coach Jennifer Ho.

"You hope things go your way, but give Mesa's pair credit for making a few more shots than our squad. Both Rhea and Anh should be proud of their efforts and it was still nice for them to get medals for second."

In individual singles, Tran placed tied for third, losing in the semifinals to eventual state champ Kelly Yau Barria of City College of San Francisco, 21-13, 21-16.

Medal Ceremony