WASHBURN 4, HENRY 3

It has been a tough couple of years for Minneapolis badminton. The virus, as it did everywhere, tapped down numbers—halting the 2020 year entirely and then the distancing of 2021. This year the masks are still worn—even in games. On top of all the virus issues came the teacher strike. That put some teams on hiatus. Then there is the coaching turnover. Only one Minneapolis coach is left from 2021. Now add the bus situation. This game was supposed to start at 4. But with the strike pushing the school day longer to make up for lost time, the start time is later. There are no busses to take the teams to the games. There is a bus to take them home. Henry got to Washburn after 5. Players have work schedules and as a result there was one forfeit due to the delay. When the dust had settled on the match today it was Miller time. New coach Cheng picked up his first win with a narrow 4-3 win. The Millers won all the doubles—that were played (Henry won at first doubles on forfeit) and took the first two singles to pick up their win. Henry’s coach is Mike Minnema, who once coached at Edison. If you look closely at the scores, you will notice that at third doubles the third set ended at 15.

This starts my “Minneapolis” week. I expect to see all seven of the teams by week’s end. I previously have charted Roosevelt twice.

SINGLES
1. Hannah Willingham, W def Valerie Dawes 21-15, 21-19
2. McKingley Helland, W def Eve Khang 21-18, 21-13
3. Nkdujzoo Khang, H def Priya Bashyal 21-7, 21-15
4. Shamyra Melton, H def Stella Kriesel 21-10, 23-21

DOUBLES
1. Amanda Lee/ Anna McConnell, H def Ava Morrison/Avery Myers forfeit
2. Mya Azebedo/Petra Sallinen, W def Goshoua Vang/ Brianna Phillips 21-13, 21-10
3. Isabella Bauermeister / Soleil Schnellinger, W def Makayla Vue / Lillian Vang 21-13, 13-21, 15-7

BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Tied 2-2 .500
Games: Tied 4-4 .500
points: Henry 151-137 .524
Set 1 points: Henry 75-59 .560
Set 2 points: Washburn 78-76 .506
decided by 10+: Henry 2-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Washburn 2-1 .667
margin: Henry 1.750
DOUBLES
Matches: Washburn 2-1 .667
Games: Washburn 4-3 .571
points: Washburn 91-68 .572
Set 1 points: Washburn 42-28 .600
Set 2 points: Washburn 34-33 .507
Set 3 points: Washburn 15-7 .682
decided by 10+: Washburn 1-0 1.000
decided by 3-: none
margin: Washburn 3.833

FIRST SINGLES

Hannah WILLINGHAM 2, Valerie DAWES 0
(21-15, 21-19)

Washburn lefty Hannah Willingham held on to top Henry’s Valerie Dawes in two sets. Dawes was filling in for the Patriots normal first singles who was out with illness. Dawes had more winners than Willingham (by one) and utilized the smash for 11 points. But Dawes had a double/double. To go along with her smashes, she gave away 11 points on service errors, eight in the second set. In addition, Willingham had five aces for a grand total of 16 points on a single stroke. Another interesting feature of this match was Dawes picked up steam in each set and actually outscored Willingham after point 11 24-20.

Both players jumped the gun on the rest of their teammates and started their match early. This is due to the work schedules involved of the players. Therefore, they missed the traditional line up introductions. Willingham made use of home advantages by racing out to a 7-1 lead capped with a two straight aces. Willingham had four runs in the first set, her last pushing her lead to 17-7. Dawes kept chipping away with two runs of her own, her second closing the margin to 17-11. But as would be true in set two, she ended her own momentum with a missed serve.

It seemed like a replay of set one when Willingham got off to a 7-2 start. But Dawes was able to get the side out against Willingham two straight times, while adding to her totals on the next five services. Somewhere along the line the pair lost a point (or I missed a “redo”). The two were playing on the end court and obstructions with the basketball hoop got in the way several times. At any rate Dawes took the lead at 12-11 on an ace. The next serve was wide, the third straight time she ended her own service. Her last lead came at 15-14. The slight edge came back to Willingham after she had a three stroke soft drive to make it 19-17. An error followed by a three stroke smash tied the game up for the third time at 19. But the missed serve reared its head again, the eighth time in the set and gave the match opportunity to Willingham, which she took advantage of with a five stroke smash.

Category	WILLINGHAM	DAWES
Side out	11/20-.550	10/21-.476
Longest side out string	4	3
3+ Runs	7	4
Longest point string	7	4
SERVING
Service points	23	14
Serving %	41/43-.953	26/36-.722
POINTS	43	34
Points after 11	20	24
Points after own errors	4	11
Winners after own errors	1	7
STROKES
Strokes	130	107
Strokes per point	3.023	3.147
5+ rallies	12	5
2- rallies	21	14
WINNERS	20	21
Aces	5	2
Blocks	0	0
Clears	3	3
Drives	2	2
Drops	3	2
Soft drives	6	1
Smashes	1	11
ERRORS	13	23
Deep	0	0
Net	6	10
Wide	5	2
Serve	2	11
Largest Lead	10	1
W:E Ratio	1.818	0.913
Margin	4.00
Set Point %	2/5-.400
Time	16:43