The domination of the South Coast Conference by the Pasadena City College women's badminton team is historic under head coach Jen Ho. In her first nine seasons, she directed seven undefeated SCC championships and a 3-0 record in the pandemic season of 2020.
On Wednesday, the Lancers moved to 74-2 in SCC matches since Ho began as coach in 2015 by defeating host El Camino, 19-2, in the PCC's 2025 season opener played at the Manhattan Beach Badminton Club.
Returning sophomore Anh Tran has taken over as the #1 player and she scored straight set singles wins over ECC's #1 Anya Gore and #2 Montila Winyaworapon. She won v. Gore, 21-10, 21-6, and over Winyaworapon, 21-8, 21-10.
The Lancers swept all 12 singles matches as #2 sophomore Janet Diec went three sets v. the Warriors' two best players, rallying from 1-0 down to beat both. Playing at #3 is top freshman Beatris Tzou, who won two matches as did #4 sophomore Karylle Peralta, #5 frosh Yolanda Huang, and #6 first-year player Christel Joy Villa.
In doubles, the #1 pair of Tzou and Diec won two matches, Peralta abd Villa split their contests and the #3 pairing of freshmen Yuki Ding and Leigh San Gabriel won its lone match.
"We have a strong #1 who is experienced and skilled in Tran, but we will see how the rest of our ladder develops," Ho said. "Beatris has potential to be a solid player and Janet looked good in pre-season practices. The team will only get better with real matches, so we anticipate that it will result in success."
Lexi Xing and Jhaira Guevarra, both freshmen, round out the '25 Lancers roster.
The Lancers, who were state finalists in each of the last two seasons, next plays at North power De Anza on Friday, Feb. 28, then participate in the annual Coast Conference Tournament on Saturday, Mar. 1.
