Ocean View Knocked Out in Semifinals

For the first time since 1993, Orange County will not be represented in the Southern Section Division I badminton finals. The last county team, Ocean View, was eliminated Tuesday in the semifinals by Diamond Bar, 13-6.

Playing top-seeded Diamond Bar (19-0), which handed Ocean View its only two losses this season, the fourth-seeded Seahawks (16-2) juggled their lineup, but it wasn’t enough.

“I knew last year this would be our year,” Diamond Bar Coach Bill Murray said. “We don’t have any glaring holes in our lineup. We’re very solid. [Ocean View] does have some glaring holes.”

The holes became evident after the first round when Diamond Bar took a 5-2 lead, increasing it to 8-3 at the end of two. Diamond Bar picked up four points, sweeping girls’ doubles and Andy and Jay Bao, individual semifinalists, swept in boys’ doubles for two more.

Ocean View, which has gone 31-3 in the two seasons since Coach Tom Carroll took over, had a few opportunities to make a match of it. In girls’ singles, Tien Le won her first game against Sari Hamman, 11-5.

Hamman, a quarterfinalist in the individual championships, rallied and took Game 2, 11-3. In the deciding game, the two battled back and forth before Hamman scored three straight points to win 3-0.

In girls’ doubles, Farhana Haque and Thao Nguyen put up an impressive battle against Alicia King and Soeum Kwon, individual semifinalists. Haque, usually a singles player, and Nguyen surprised King and Kwon winning the first game, 15-9, before losing, 15-11, 15-9.

Hoang Nguyen, an individual quarterfinalist for Ocean View, got the only sweep of the day for the Seahawks, defeating Aaron Ow-Yeang, a semifinalist, 5-0, 15-5 and Charles Chang, 15-10, 15-5.

In Division II:

Loara 12, Azusa Gladstone 7--The doubles team of Sheila Soldivillo and Riacel Castillo won its first match, 5-15, 18-13, 15-9, and its second match, 15-9, 15-4, for Loara (18-1). The doubles team of Nina Mai and Wainie Lim also won its two matches for the Saxons.