By Pete Borello

Mountain View High’s Tri Tang and Anh Vo emerged from the consolation bracket to capture the boys doubles championship at last month’s Central Coast Section badminton tournament.

Tang and Vo entered the double-elimination competition, held May 21-23 at Independence High in San Jose, as the No. 1 seed. In the second round, however, they were stunned by unseeded Zaric Wong and Ali Khan of South San Francisco.

Tang and Vo then did the improbable: they won four consecutive matches to reach the final. That’s where they again met Wong and Khan, this time prevailing 8-6, 7-8, 7-3, 7-3 to give Mountain View its first CCS title since 1996.

“They were pretty resilient all year,” Spartans coach Kelly Kuboyama said of his two seniors, who combined forces to place fifth in CCS last season. “When their backs are against the wall, their best badminton comes out. They handled the pressure well.”

The first day of the tourney, however, Kuboyama said Tang and Vo “played safe and scared” and paid for it.

The coach said his players learned their lesson, though, and “were a lot more aggressive” the rest of the way.

Tang and Vo, who occupied Mountain View’s top two singles spots during the league season, played doubles together only four times prior to the CCS tournament. They teamed up to win the SCVAL boys doubles title a week before the CCS event, beating teammates Brian Chiu and Dhiren Mistry in the final.

Chiu and Mistry, the Spartans’ top doubles team during the regular season, went on to finish in a tie for fifth in CCS. Seeded third in the tourney, they complied a 3-2 record.