#1 seed Song Yang of Johnson took the second part of the triple crown with the singles title championship over #2 seed HaNeul Jeong-McDonell of Highland Park. This is sixth singles title in the Governor’s showcase, but the fifth player to accomplish the feat. Yang had one three set victory on the day—-a semifinal win over Lay Lay of Humboldt. Yang also was 3-1 in sets decided by three points. Two of those sets went to extra points, both wins for Yang.
Singles, unlike doubles, went mainly to seed. Champion #1 sedd, runner up #2 seed, third place #3; the exception came with #5 seed Lay Lay of Humboldt topping #4 seed Cinderella Nwe of Washington in the quarters. The quarters saw competitive matches with both Yang and Lay winning their matches with margins of 2.5 and 2 respectively. Things tightened up in the semis with both matches going three sets. Both winners had to come back from first set deficits. With all the heat and all the long rallies, and there were long rallies, it started to deplete the energy levels of the remaining players. The proverbial wall was hit. The first sets in the championship and third place matches were decided by deep extra points (25 and 24). But then the wall took over. Yang held J-McD to 8 points, Poe limited Lay to 12.
The championship box score follows match scores.
SINGLES
FIRST ROUND
Sunshine Vang, Highland Park 2 def PaNra Lee, Como Park 2 21-9, 21-19
Edina 1 def Henry 1 21-11, 21-5
Maddie Blackbourn, Burnsville 1 def Ruth Martinez, Roosevelt 1 21-7, 21-6
Harding 2 def Zadie Heitzeg, Central 1 21-18, 21-15
Marguerite Kocon, Trinity def Taylor Aufdencamp, Kennedy 21-17, 21-6
South 1 def Southwest 1 21-10, 21-18
Htoo Say, Humboldt 2 def Katie Vue, Edison 1 21-6, 21-12
Julie Xiong, Johnson 2 def Elli Olson, Washburn 1 21-13, 21-7
Harding 1 def Central 2 forfeit
Melanie Lu, Burnsville 2 def Thuy-Yen Tran, Eden Prairie 1 21-12, 21-19
Washington 2 def Hmong 1 21-5, 21-4
SWEET 16
Song Yang, Johnson 1 def Sunshine Vang, Highland Park 2 21-9, 21-8
Maddie Blackbourn, Burnsville 1 def Ruthie Lundberg, Edina 1 21-17, 21-14
Cinderella Nwe, Washington 1 def Harding 2 17-21, 21-15, 21-6
Lay Lay, Humboldt 1 def Marguerite Kocon, Trinity 1 21-12, 21-12
HaNeul Jeong-McDonell, Highland Park 1 def South 1 21-5, 21-8
Htoo Say, Humboldt 2 def Julie Xiong, Johnson 2 21-13, 15-21, 21-14
Nag Poe, Como Park 1 def Harding 1 21-3, 21-11
Rain Htoo, Washington 2 def Melanie Lu, Burnsville 2 21-14, 21-18
QUARTERFINALS
Song Yang, Johnson 1 def Maddie Blackbourn, Burnsville 1 22-20, 21-18
Lay Lay, Humboldt 1 def Cinderella Nwe, Washington 1 24-22, 21-19
HaNeul Jeong-McDonell, Highland Park 1 def Htoo Say, Humboldt 2 12-21, 21-15, 21-18
Nag Poe, Como Park 1 def Rain Htoo, Washington 2 21-16, 21-15
SEMIFINALS
Song Yang, Johnson 1 def Lay Lay, Humboldt 1 18-21, 21-11, 21-8
HaNeul Jeong-McDonell, Highland Park 1 def Nag Poe, Como Park 1 16-21, 21-16, 21-12
3RD
Nag Poe, Como Park 1 def Lay Lay, Humboldt 1 25-23, 21-12
1ST
Song Yang, Johnson 1 def HaNeul Jeong-McDonell, Highland Park 1 24-22, 21-8
Song YANG 2, HaNeul Jeong-McDonell 0
(24-22, 21-8)
Yang overcame a five point deficit in the first set (17-12) after getting her shot winners rolling. Before that point she only had two winners out of the 12 points. Yang put together an 8-1 run with six winners including four clears to pull in front 20-18. Jeong-McDonell held off set point twice with two clears of her own and then had a set point opportunity at 21-20. A two stroke drop tied it up. J-McD again held off set point with a two stroke smash. However, two errors, both wide gave Yang the momentum heading into set two.
For all intents and purposes, the second set broke with a nine point run by Yang to make it 14-4. The first three points in that run came on errors. Also, Yang slammed the door shut with eight straight side outs. The match ended with an anticlimactic missed serve.
Rallies longer than five strokes formed most of the rallies with a count of 32, 42.7% of the points. Of those rallies, there were nine “mega” rallies of ten or more strokes. Yang won that category 7-2
| Category | YANG | JEONG-McDONELL |
| Side out | 14/19-.736 | 7/20-.350 |
| Longest side out string | 9(across 2 sets) | 5 |
| 3+ Runs | 5 | 3 |
| Longest point string | 9 | 6 |
| SERVING | ||
| Service points | 26 | 11 |
| Serving % | 44/45-.978 | 28/30-.933 |
| POINTS | ||
| Overall points | 45 | 30 |
| Points after 11 | 24 | 15 |
| Points after own errors | 6/9-.667 | 14/26-.538 |
| STROKES | ||
| Strokes | 253 | 128 |
| Strokes per point | 5.622 | 4.267 |
| 5+ rallies | 23 | 9 |
| 2- rallies | 12 | 8 |
| WINNERS | 19 (9-10) | 21 (15-6) |
| Aces | 0 | 0 |
| Blocks | 0 | 0 |
| Clears | 7 | 9 |
| Drives | 7 | 3 |
| Drops | 1 | 3 |
| Soft drives | 3 | 1 |
| Smashes | 1 | 5 |
| ERRORS | 9 (7-2) | 26 (15-11) |
| Deep | 0 | 5 |
| Net | 6 | 11 |
| Wide | 2 | 8 |
| Serve | 1 | 2 |
| W:E Ratio | 2.111 | 0.808 |
| Margin | 7.50 | |
| Set Point % | 2/6-.333 | 0/1-.000 |
| Time | 23:32 |