Community college women’s badminton: Pirates nearly upset San Diego

Mesa

SAN DIEGO - The Orange Coast College women’s badminton team didn’t

win on Wednesday, but the Pirates’ performance was good enough enough for

Coach Barbara Bond to cancel practice Thursday.

OCC fell, 11-10, at defending state champion San Diego Mesa. The Bucs

(5-5, 2-3 in the Orange Empire Conference) displayed remarkable

improvement as they lost, 16-5, to the Olympians in their season opener

Feb. 23.

“It was a loss in the record books, but it’s a win in our minds,” Bond

said.

The match was decided in the last doubles contest as OCC entered with

a 10-9 lead, but could not pull off the upset.

Cynthia Tran maintained her undefeated streak, winning both of her

singles matches to improve to 18-0 this season.

Pirates Rosie Pham, Hoaimi Nguyen and Ane Nielsen each came away with

one singles win each.

Pham and Tina Nguyen teamed for a win in doubles play, as did Tran and

Rana Duszynski. Alissa Huynh and Hoaimi Nguyen also won a doubles match

for Coast.

The Bucs continue their inaugural season with a match Wednesday at

Irvine Valley at 6:30 p.m.