Warriors Have Two Pairs Qualify for State Championships

WALNUT, Calif. --- Tate Mercer, Aireon Scott, Schaela Nielsen and Erica Griffiths participated at the 3C2A Southern California Pairs Regionals hosted at the Mount San Antonio Beach Courts.

The Warriors' two duos both qualified for the 3C2A Pairs State Championships, which will take place on May 9-10 at Long Beach City College.

Mercer and Scott placed seventh on the weekend while Griffiths and Nielsen finished with the No. 16 seed.

Mercer and Scott entered as the No. 12 seed and opened the tournament with a three-set victory (21-19, 11-21, 16-14) against No. 21 Sara Lozano and Norma Ramirez of Grossmont.

The duo would then upset No. 5 seed Madelynn Papia and Sage Thorne-Thomsen of Santa Barbara in three sets (10-21, 21-14, 15-8), booking a spot in the quarterfinals and clinching a spot in the state championships.

The Warriors' duo would fall in the quarters to No. 17 seed Emma Bambe and Janell Spires of Palomar in straight sets (21-17, 21-17), dropping Mercer and Scott into the consolation bracket to decide the No. 5-8 seeds.

They would draw No. 4 seeded Jordan Packer and Kayla Ihrig from Orange Coast with the OCC duo downing ECC 21-19, 21-14.

The Warriors would clinch the no. 7 seed from the south for the 3C2A State Championships with a walkover win over Jaiden Mojica and Myah Gomez of San Diego Mesa.

Nielsen and Griffiths started their journey as the No. 15 seed at the regionals and scored a 21-14, 18-21, 17-15 victory over No. 18 Sophia Vandenberg and Samantha Harvey of Santa Monica.

In the next round, the Warriors duo fell to No. 2 Nicole Lankton and Annah Legaspi of Santa Monica in straight sets (21-8, 21-10).

With their lone win, Griffiths and Nielsen clinched a spot in the state championships and settled in at the No. 16 seed as they conceded their remaining matches in the No. 9-16 seed consolation bracket.

The two duos will now travel to Long Beach City College beginning on Friday for the 3C2A Pairs State Championships.