CCSF's Barria wins singles title while S.D. Mesa's Nguyen-Keophaseut are tops in doubles at 3C2A Badminton Championships
PASADENA – City College of San Francisco's Kelly Yau Barria found the gold medal podium for the second time in three days while San Diego Mesa's Megan Nguyen made her way there for the second time in two years as both claimed titles on Saturday afternoon at the 3C2A Badminton Championships at Pasadena City College.
Nguyen teamed with Mylene Keophaseut for her second consecutive doubles title while Barria added her second championship after leading CCSF to the team title on Thursday.
Barria beat teammate and doubles partner Jacqueline Leong, 21-10 and 21-15 for the singles title, going 4-0 over two days to become CCSF's first-ever singles champion. She was the fifth Ram to make it to the finals since 2000 and the first since Evonne Zheng in 2012.
Nguyen and Keophaseut had tough opponents in Pasadena City College's Rhea Zou and Anh Vu Nguyen Tran, capturing the title in a sweep but with tight scores of 22-20 and 21-19. Nguyen won the state title last year with former teammate Erica Garcia Badaracco. Nguyen is the program's first two-time individual champion.
Barria, NorCal's top seed, advanced into the championship match after beating Tran, the No. 2 seed from SoCal, 21-13 and 21-16, while Leong, the north's second seed, turned back Renee Ou of De Anza, 21-16, 21-19.
The championship showdown brought familiarity into the mix with the teammates, who had earlier dropped their doubles semifinal, figuring to put together a close battle. Leong only led once in the first game, capturing the first point, but was close to her Rams teammate before Barria used four different scoring bursts of at least three consecutive points to take control of the opener.
The first three surges were three points each and opened leads of 9-5, 13-7 and 16-8. Leong got a bit closer at 16-10 before Barria closed it out with five straight points and the 21-10 victory.
Barria jumped to a quick 3-0 advantage in the second game before Leong rattled off five straight of her own. The pair stayed close to each other with no more than a two-point separation before Barria, trailing 13-12, used another strong finish by scoring eight of the next points to go up 20-14. They split the next two points with Barria closing out the championship for a 21-15 win.
Barria, who was proud of having her teammate in the final with her, effectively used all areas of the court, which she said is one of her strengths.
"I am actually very dynamic with my shots. I honestly just hit to the empty spots," she said. "(My strength today was) mostly attacking, being very offensive, like smashing everything that went up."
CCSF coach Tiffany Mariano said it was a credit to the Rams' program to have both singles finalists on Saturday.
"It's great representation for our program and to show we had a really strong team this year," said Mariano. "It's awesome to see them both (competing). You don't even know who to cheer for.
"I'm going to cheer every point," she added. "I watched them play day in and day out. Watching that (match), they're both so competitive, it's not like they took it easy on each other or did anything different than they would've if they played anybody else."
The first game in the doubles championship 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 Nguyen- Keophaseut scored the next two to retake the lead.
From there, it was a matter of rallies. Pasadena City strung three in a row together before San Diego Mesa fought back with four in a row of its own, resulting in a 19-17 lead. Zou and Tran then used a 3-0 jump to move to game-point but Nguyen-Keophaseut showed why they were the south's top-seeded team, picking up the next three points and the 22-20 win.
San Diego Mesa's 5-0 run in the second game turned a 9-5 deficit into a 10-9 lead while another 3-0 run gave them an advantage at 14-12. It was neck-and-neck the rest of the game with Nguyen-Keophaseut picking up the final two points to break a deadlock and win the championship. v
Nguyen was thrilled to win another state title.
"It's an accomplishment that I'm really proud of," she said. "I'm really happy I came back a second time because I was still on the edge of joining but after joining I (felt) everything was worth it, coming to practice, and talking to the coaches, going to all the games… it's been fun."
Nguyen-Keophaseut clap hands with each other after winning a point, something they both credit to keeping them in the moment, especially when the games are close like they were in Saturday's championship. Keophaseut said it's been strategy that works.
"It does, it really does," she said. "I try my best to keep my composure for the both of us."
San Diego Mesa head coach June Andrews echoed those thoughts.
"I've always taught them to play even keel and to really focus on the next point when they make a mistake," she said. "And they can't get caught up in the emotions because this is a scenario where there are a lot of emotions, with a lot of cheering (and) a lot of yelling, and so I just encourage them to stay positive and stay even-keel throughout the match."
(Mike Robles, 3C2A)