SOUTHERN SECTION BADMINTON PLAYOFFS : Garden Grove’s Role as Spoiler Continues at Estancia’s Expense

Garden Grove High School’s badminton team, referred to as “the spoilers” by Estancia Coach Lilian Brabander, upset the top-seeded Eagles, 10-9, in the semifinals of the Southern Section 4-A badminton tournament Tuesday at Estancia.

“They are very capable (of winning),” Brabander said afterward. “This is not the only time they’ve done it.”

Garden Grove reached the semifinals with an upset of fourth-seeded Nogales last Thursday.

Estancia was winning, 9-8, with two matches remaining. But it would be an uphill struggle for Garden Grove because its second girls’ doubles team of Xuan Nguyen and Dao Pham was facing Estancia’s best team of Nancy Do and Cam Tu Tram.

But Garden Grove’s duo won, 15-7, 15-12, to tie the score at 9-9.

“She (Pham) has played hardly any doubles all year,” Garden Grove Coach Vicki Toutz said. “But she’s a fighter. She’s prone to some errors, but she retrieves a lot of birds, so that made her partner Xuan feel real confident.”

Toutz said her two girls’ doubles teams (Thao Vo and Nicole Nguyen formed the first team) played better than expected with each picking up two victories.

“My girls just played fantastic,” Toutz said. “I mean, they have not done what they did today all year.”

The match came down to Estancia’s second boys’ doubles team of Son Ha Tram and Chung Nguyen against Garden Grove’s first team of John Chong and Prat Mallawong.

They split the first two games, Garden Grove winning the first, 15-13, and Estancia the second, 15-3.

Garden Grove took the third and decisive game, 15-4, as Chong and Mallawong’s teammates threw their fists in the air, yelled and ran onto the court in celebration.

“I was shaking when I was serving,” Chong said. “We always play well under pressure--a lot better.”

Garden Grove (16-2) will meet Buena Park, a 10-9 winner over Alhambra in Tuesday’s other semifinal, for the 4-A championship Thursday at Cypress College at 4 p.m.