North occupies 7 of 8 spots in state badminton individual singles and doubles semifinals

Championship Page/Brackets, click here

(FRESNO) -- North region teams secured all four singles spots in advancing to the semifinals with two match wins each in the CCCAA State Individual Tournament played on Friday at Fresno City College. NorCal Number 1 seed Vanessa Dinh and #4 Madison Moe from recently crowned state team champ De Anza, and #2 Souphany Siphanh and #3 Uyen Napier from host Fresno all made it through to the final four. North teams also sent three of four squads into the individual doubles.

The entire South four top seed singles grouping were eliminated by the quarterfinals as #1 Erica Garcia Badarraco of San Diego Mesa was beaten by Napier, 21-16, 21-16. Moe had the closest quarterfinal in edging El Camino and SoCal #2 seed Maria Mongaki, 22-20, 21-19. Dinh eliminated ECC's/#3 Julie Foster, 21-10, 21-4 while Siphanh rolled past De Anza's Malaya Paras-Mangrobang, 21-3, 21-8. Paras-Mangrobang had knocked off South #4 seed Lucy Lou (Irvine Valley) in the opening round, 21-16, 21-11.

That sets up a same-team semifinals with Dinh taking on Moe and Siphanh facing Napier on Saturday (time TBA), insuring a De Anza v. Fresno singles final matchup later tomorrow.

In doubles, Fresno City's North #3 pair of Napier-Siphanh won the match of the day in a comeback win over the South #1 pair Mongaki-Foster (El Camino), 24-26, 21-12, 21-9 to reach the semifinals. The only South chance at a title is still alive in #2 Lou and Jarita Huang of Irvine Valley, who got by North #4 seed Jenny Nguyen and Phuong Troung (De Anza), 21-9, 21-13, in another quarterfinal.

The North's #1 pair of Moe-Paras-Mangrobang swept South #3/Pasadena City's Cindy Zhao-Nikki Ching, 21-10, 21-9. North #2/De Anza's Dinh and Heather Lee rolled past #5/Fresno City's Priscilla Lee and Vilay Lee, 21-10, 21-8.

The semis are set with Moe-Paras-Mangrobang playing IVC's Lou-Huang and the other De Anza pair of Dinh-Lee facing FCC's Napier-Siphanh. That means all four top singles players will have an opportunity for state titles in both singles and doubles on Saturday. 

Release by Robert Lewis, CCCSIA/State Badminton SID for CCCAA