SOUTHERN SECTION BADMINTON PLAYOFFS : Keppel Beats Estancia, Moves Into the Finals

Alhambra Keppel, winner of three consecutive 3-A (now Division II) championships, wanted to show it was ready for the “big time” in high school badminton entering Tuesday’s Southern Section semifinal against Estancia, the two-time defending 4-A (now Division I) champion.

The Aztecs (17-0) showed they were more than ready as they dethroned host Estancia, 12-7, to earn a berth in Thursday’s final against Nogales at Cypress College.

Led by its undefeated mixed doubles team of Johnny Le and Nhi Phung (50-0) and its unbeaten boys’ doubles team of Calvin Ho and Herman Hartawan (51-0), Keppel had too much depth for the Eagles (14-5) despite sweeps by Doan Nguyen in the girls’ singles, Linh Doan in the boys’ singles and Esther Viramontes and Han Vu in the girls’ doubles.

“We have a lot of pride,” Keppel Coach Carl George said. “This is our first year in Division I, and we didn’t want anyone to say that we can’t compete on this level.”

There were probably few dissenters coming into the meet.

Le and Phung are the top high school mixed doubles team in California and rated second nationally. In March, they were consolation finalists in the 19-and-under national juniors championships at Colorado Springs, Colo.

Le and Phung set the pace by defeating Estancia’s Doan and Nguyen, 15-12, 15-3, as Keppel took two of the three opening mixed doubles matches for a 2-1 lead.

Doan came back in boys’ singles, however, to defeat Le, 15-5, 9-15, 15-7. Le (46-2) had defeated Doan three times this season and is rated No. 3 in the nation in boys’ 16-18s. Nguyen, who was academically ineligible most of the season, swept the girls’ singles, defeating Phung, 11-9, 4-11, 11-6, and Annie Tran, 11-5, 11-3.

Viramontes and Vu swept their girls’ singles matches, but it wasn’t enough to offset Keppel’s 4-0 sweep in boys’ doubles.

In another Division I semifinal:

La Puente Nogales 14, Century 5--Duong Nguyen swept her two girls’ singles matches and teamed with Loung Nguyen to win in mixed doubles, 15-6, 11-15, 15-1, for visiting Century (16-3).