With early losses Friday morning, the Warriors sat on their respective bench with heads low and morale even lower, as they were beaten in three games by Pasadena City College preventing them from securing a place in the state championships this year.
The South Coast Conference Championships in Manhattan Beach last Friday set the scene for an agonizing defeat in three games at the hands of Pasadena City College. The Lancer’s handled the Warriors with relative ease.
Freshman teammates Angie Hoang and Mai Tram Nguyen began the day strong beating East L.A winning in two games, before being knocked out by a well equipped Pasadena team.
“The team they played had a bit more experience and it showed,” said coach John Britton. “It was just a bad case of shaken nerves and lack of experience that took their toll on our players.”
The two teams had met twice earlier in the year, with the Warriors narrowly escaping a loss on March 3, in the 11-10 victory.
The Warriors’ win over the Lancers was avenged several weeks later on March 12 by way of a 21-0 beat down.
Since then, despite EC’s hard training, it all came down to a series of matches.
Hoang, who will not be returning to the team, expressed disappointment in her rounds.
“I’m very disappointed in my game,” she said. “It was super close and I was so upset that I let it go.”
In the past, EC achieved many accolades including, in 2003, bringing home the singles title at state as well as ranking high in doubles play in the subsequent years.
Britton admitted there was almost nothing that could have been done to stop their opponents.
“We’ve gotten better since then I think and we almost were able to get that one,” he said. “But with all the unforced errors and lack of experience in our game, our season came to an end in three short games.”