Douglas College came through again at the Canadian Colleges' Athletic Association national badminton championships.

Douglas Royals won three gold medals at the collegiate nationals hosted by Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, including a fifth consecutive women's doubles title by Melody Liang of Burnaby.

Liang's doubles partner, Stephanie Ko, earned a fourth straight national title, while three-time provincial women's singles champion RuiLin Huang of Burnaby garnered her third Canadian collegiate title in a row.

Prior to the nationals, Huang was named the CCAA female player of the year for an unprecedented third time.

B.C. men's doubles runners-up, Darren Hong and Rey Luo, also won gold, avenging an earlier loss at the B.C. college provincials to Pierre Tang and Chris Chung of Langara.

All five Douglas players swept their combined opposition without dropping a single game.

"To tell you the truth, I expected it to be much harder this year," said Douglas head coach Al Mawani.

Huang, who has lost just once in 120 games in her three-year collegiate career to date, was the class of the tournament, said Mawani.

Huang defeated her main rival, Sun Yang of Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, 21-11, 21-13 in the championship final.

Huang gave up double-digit points to just one other player in the competition, that a 21-12 victory over host Lori McNight of Mount Allison in the final round-robin match.

"I think when (the others) saw her fitness, they beat themselves. She was so determined," Mawani said. (Huang) knew what she could accomplish. ... She was confident she could do well. She knew it was her tournament."

Liang and Ko were equally dominant, but had to overcome a difficult first day of competition.

Liang was unable to accompany the team to Sackville, N.B., and had to catch a late plane, which arrived at the airport less than two hours before her opening match.

Liang went straight to the hotel, changed and went right to the court, said Mawani. "It showed her guts."

It also showed the leadership skills of Ko, who controlled the play through the early rounds, Mawani added. By the fifth round, Liang told Mawani "not to worry, they were not about to let this title go."

But perhaps the most satisfying victory was the men's doubles play of B.C. wild card entry third-year Hong and freshman Luo, who took over the partnership from graduated five-time medallist Alvin Lau.

"They just played brilliantly in the final," said Mawani of the 21-14, 21-17 win over Tang and Chung of Langara in the gold-medal final. "They were just so confident. Once they had beaten them in the round robin, they wanted to play them again. They wanted Langara."

Mawani was also buoyed by the results in the mixed doubles final, which saw Jensen Ly, a player he helped coach as performance director at Shuttlesport International Academy, win a gold medal with teammate Ashley Jang.

B.C. won the overall team aggregate over Alberta with a 21-4 record.

Dan Kai of Alberta won the individual men's singles over B.C. champ Peter Huang of Capilano University.

Although 2007, when Douglas won all five disciplines at the nationals, still stands as the program's highlight, Mawani says that this year is right up there.

"I'm very, very proud of the team," he said.

"(2007) Melody's first year, that's got to be the highlight, but I'd say, this was No. 2. It was sweet."