De Anza, Led By Pinky Li, Sweep The Badminton Championships
By Dave Silverstein
Jurate Foes (IVC) started off the Singles Championship with a 2-0 start then Pinky Li (De Anza) ran off three consecutive points to pull ahead. The match stayed tight through the interval at 11-9. Pinky Li after the interval started making her move increasing her lead to 17-9 finishing the set at 21-13. Pinky started off the 2nd set on fire with a 4-0 start but Foes showed some life to get back to 4-2 before Pinky started her separation by taking the next 10 points, increasing the lead to 14-2. The final score was 21-13 and 21-6 that earned Pinky her 2nd consecutive singles title.
The duo of Pinky Li and Christina Ja (De Anza) started off with a 3-0 lead over Jessica Dinh/Alice Liu (De Anza). Dinh/Lui then ran off 5 points to take the lead at 5-4. Pinky/Ja lead 11-9 at the intermission. Dinh/Liu ran off the first two points after the break to tie it at 11-11. With the score tied at 15-15 Li/Ja scored the last 6 points to win the set 21-16. Pinky/Ja carried over the hot finish to the second set leading 4-1. At the intermission in the second set the score was 11-7. Pinky kept the fire going, winning the next 10 points to earn the 2014 CCCAA doubles State championship.
De Anza Coach Mark Landefeld had his top singles player (Pinky Li) and both doubles teams (Li/Ja and Dinh/Liu) in the finals along with sweeping the singles and doubles championship titles. When speaking about Pinky, he stated that she was a model player and one who he only needed to talk to two times in her De Anza career. In these instances he said “it was to slow her down”.
This was De Anza’s second consecutive badminton State sweep and they hope to repeat next year at Irvine Valley College.
Individual State Championship Brackets
[Singles Brackets] [Consolation]
[Doubles Brackets] [Consolation]