ELAC badminton rallies for an 11-10 win against Warriors
TORRANCE, CA — The East Los Angeles College badminton team won a key South Coast Conference matchup, 11-10, against El Camino College with a come from behind rally.
It was a close match throughout. The Warriors led the match, 4-2, after the first rotation of singles play of ELAC's lower seeds against El Camino's upper seeds. The Warriors increased their lead to 7-4 after the doubles round of rotation.
ELAC rallied to pull within a point; down 8-7 during the third rotation of top-seeded singles matches, only to have the Warriors score the final two points heading into the final rotation.
Down 10-7, the Huskies had one last chance to eke out a win, but they needed to win both final doubles matches.
The ELAC No. 1 doubles team of freshmen Jean Buenaflor (South El Monte HS) and Yong Xian "Vanessa" Liang (China Taishan No. 1 HS) won 21-4, 21-8 against the El Camino No. 1 doubles duo of freshmen Oanh Le (North Torrance HS) and Shadera Woodland (Cabrillo HS).
El Camino led 10-9 heading into the final match of the day, the No. 2 doubles teams of each school pitted against each other.
ELAC's No. 2 doubles team prevailed with a hard fought 21-15, 21-4 set against El Camino's No. 2 doubles team and ELAC had won the match 11-10.
ELAC hosts El Camino-Compton Center in the North Gym at 2 p.m. next Friday, March 4.
Singles Results
No. 1 Buenaflor def. No. 2 Woodland 21-1, 21-8; def. No. 1 Oanh Le, 21-9, 21-8
No. 2 Un "Katherine" Vong lost to Oanh Le 21-10, 21-12; lost to Woodland 21-19, 21-10
No. 3 Han Le def. No. 4 Ann Arante 21-14, 21-7; No. 3 Caitlin Villalobos 21-14
No. 4 Jia Min "Stephanie" Li lost to Villalobos 21-16, 21-12; 21-17; def. Arante 21-15, 21-15
No. 5 Liang lost to No. 6 Natsuki Hoshiko 21-6, 21-6; lost to No. 5 Jordan Alvira 21-16, 21-19
No. 6 Huang "Tilly" Li lost to Alvira 21-17, 21-9; lost to Hoshiko 21-4, 21-5
Other Doubles Results
No. 1 Buenaflor / Liang def. No. 2 Villalobos / Arante 21-6, 21-7
No. 2 Vong / Han Le lost to Oanh Le / Woodland 21-10, 21-18
No. 3 Stephanie Li / Tilly Li lost to No. 3 Alvira / Hoshiko 21-18, 19-21, 21-10
story submitted by Tadzio Garcia