The Lancers reaffirmed their winning ways in South Coast Conference dominance over the El Camino Warriors, 18-3, while visiting them on the road Friday in Torrance.
The victory came less than a week after PCC returned from a tournament in the Coast Conference near San Francisco, where the Lancers endured two losses, illness, and injury.
Sophomore Xiaoming “Shawy” Yao, the number one player on the team, took to the court on an injured ankle to battle the Warriors. She won three games, including a doubles sweep.
Yao and doubles partner Nicole Ching faced the Warriors’ toughest players and won by some of the day’s closest scores, 21-19 and 21-14.
“Not that easy, but we still practiced,” Yao said of the wins. “Make them move … so we have a chance to smash at them.”
The doubles sweep was complete when Sophia Nguyen and Huyen Diep beat the same players in rotation, 21-13 and 21-15.
“I won four games, for single and double,” Nguyen said, happily. “I got 21, and then they got five,” in singles.
Nguyen’s very next game, another 21-5 trouncing of her opponent, was part of a very competitive singles round. Yao also served up 21-6 and 21-5 defeats. The rest of the singles games had much closer scores.
On their home turf, El Camino appeared stronger in singles than when they visited PCC three weeks earlier for the season opener. The Warriors’ improvement allowed them to reach three points in the final score.
Even as Lancer head coach Jennifer Ho was under the weather this week, her team rallied to shake off any disappointments from the tournament trip.
“This group is a good group of kids,” Ho said, congested, with an occasional cough.
“I felt [getting sick] when I was up north, but I didn’t want to tell the kids. I didn’t want them to worry. But we’re going to go to the finals, trust me,” she said, as the team quickly returns to 100% health.
They are also gearing up for a rematch with De Anza here at PCC on April 1.
“They’re a very strong team. Actually, up north, a lot of strong teams this year,” Ho said, putting it into perspective. “It’s okay to be beat sometimes. You have to get up and try again.”
Ching concurred, echoing the sentiment of her teammates ahead of De Anza’s upcoming visit.
“Revenge. For revenge,” she said with a smile and a laugh.
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