Lions, Lancers For The Legacy

California's top two college badminton teams will square-off in Thursday's 3C2A team championship match at City College of San Francisco.

De Anza College (14-0) and Pasadena City College (10-2) share the court for the third time this season. The Mountain Lions took both matches against the Lancers, 17-4 on Feb. 7 and 14-7 on April 1 - the only losses for PCC. 

Both teams posted 10-0 records during the conference season, with De Anza capturing the Coast and Pasadena winning the South Coast. In the second meeting, the Lancers scored the most points of any De Anza opponent.

Under head coach Mark Landefeld, DA has captured four 3C2A championships - including consecutive perfect seasons twice: 2103-2014 and 2022-2023 (sweeping PCC 11-0 in 2023 final).

Pasadena's head coach Jen Ho guided the Lancers to back-to-back state titles in 2017 and 2018. The Lancers are making their third straight appearance in the state team final.

The Lions are led by a deep roster, including Coast singles champion sophomore Mailan Hoang Vuong - who also won the conference doubles title with freshman Natalee Lam. They defeated DA teammates sophomore Jenny Thai and freshman Karina Chow in the pairs final.

Four other state qualifiers - singles semi-finalist freshman Makayla Than, freshman Trinity Nguyen, freshman Adrienne Lee, and sophomore Seojin Min - are expected to compete for points. 

State individual and doubles championships will be played at CCSF on Friday and Saturday.