WASHINGTON 5, HIGHLAND PARK 2
The busses were running. Late but running. That meant Highland Park was able to get to Washington and the Eagles extracted some revenge on the Scots to the tune of 5-2. Last week’s match was postponed until today. The previous match up at HP on April 18 favored the hosts 4-3. It should be noted that there was no rain today either. Rain Htoo, the #2 singles for the Eagles was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts. The flips today came at third singles with Josey Lee turning the tables in two sets and at first doubles. In the first contest the Scots won in three. Cho Cho Oo and Dun Htoo made sure it was completed in two sets today holding Chor Yang and Satori to 19 total points across both sets. In the first match up Ella Alden-Pope and Chor Yang scored 60.
SINGLES
1. Neul, HP def Cinderella Nwe 21-17, 21-16
2. Sunshine, HP def Britney Lao 21-13, 21-16
3. Josey Lee, W def Phlower 21-18, 21-13
4. Jennie Lee, W def Sarah 24-22, 21-15
DOUBLES
1. Cho Cho Oo/ Dun Htoo, W def Chor / Satori 21-11, 21-8
2. Ariel Fang / Paw Eh Soo, W def Ella / Tsheng 21-12, 21-19
3. Puja Gurung / La Joe Paw, W def Ellie / Katia 21-16, 21-14
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Highland Park 2-2 .500
Games: Highland Park 4-4 .500
points: Highland Park 152-149 .504
Set 1 points: Highland Park 82-75 .522
Set 2 points: Washington 74-70 .514
decided by 10+: none
decided by 3-: Washington 2-0 1.000
margin: Highland Park 0.375
DOUBLES
Matches: Washington 3-0 1.000
Games: Washington 6-0 1.000
points: Washington 126-80 .612
Set 1 points: Washington 63-39 .618
Set 2 points: Washington 63-41 .606
decided by 10+: Washington 2-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Washington 1-0 1.000
margin: Washington 7.667
FIRST SINGLES
Neul 2, Cinderella 0
(21-17, 20-15)
In the sixth poll Neul moved to the #1 spot and Cinderella moved up the ranks to #2. Neul maintained that advantage in a two set win over the host. The ability to score on serve close to 80% of the time was a huge advantage. Any slight advantage magnifies when facing off against stiff opposition. Rallies tended to go long. Several times Neul had to regain her breath, especially after mega rallies late in each set. Cinderella tried to duplicate the same closing magic she displayed last week when she rallied to victory against Harding’s Kanlaya Thao.
The only time Cinderella led the entire match came after the first two points of the first set. Neul didn’t let that last two long with a five point run initiated by a missed serve. That lead expanded to seven after another five point run, Neul’s third of the set (16-9). Cinderella came storming back with a 7-1 run with an exclamation point 15 stroke clear to trail 17-16. After that point Neul needed time to regain her breath. A four stroke smash stopped the momentum on the next point. The first set had Neul controlling the winners 12-5.
Neul led the entire second set. A four point run pushed her lead out to 13-7. Once again Cinderella surged forward with a run of five to trail 14-13. A four stroke soft drive ended the threat and started a three point run to give some cushion. Twice in this sequence Neul needed time. Perhaps during these micro breaks—-they weren’t longer than five seconds—the two lost track of the score. Neul came up with two consecutive soft drives, one to the right front corner on a side out and a three stroke shot to end the contest. The problem was the score was only 20-15 at the time.
In their first meeting Neul won in two with a margin of 5 points per set. That same margin held today. But in the first meeting Neul had to go to extra points in the first set to win 23-21.
Next up in the next two days is the St. Paul Conference tournament at Johnson. These two could match up again soon.
| Category | NEUL | CINDERELLA |
| Side out | 9/17-.529 | 5/18-.278 |
| Longest side out string | 2 | 1 |
| 3+ Runs | 5 | 4 |
| Longest point string | 5 | 5 |
| SERVING | ||
| First Serve | 2 | 1 |
| Service points | 24 | 16 |
| Serving % | 36/40-.900 | 30/33-.909 |
| Point generated off serve | .584 | .500 |
| POINTS | 41 | 32 |
| Points after 11 | 19 | 17 |
| Points after own errors | 8 | 10 |
| Winners after own errors | 4 | 6 |
| STROKES | ||
| Strokes | 187 | 135 |
| Strokes per point | 4.561 | 4.218 |
| 5+ rallies | 16 | 11 |
| 2- rallies | 11 | 12 |
| WINNERS | 20 | 15 |
| By set | 12-8 | 5-10 |
| Aces | 0 | 1 |
| Blocks | 0 | 1 |
| Clears | 6 | 4 |
| Drives | 3 | 1 |
| Drops | 1 | 2 |
| Soft drives | 5 | 2 |
| Smashes | 5 | 4 |
| ERRORS | 17 | 21 |
| By set | 12-5 | 9-12 |
| Deep | 3 | 1 |
| Fans | 0 | 1 |
| Net | 8 | 9 |
| Wide | 2 | 7 |
| Serve | 4 | 3 |
| SET UP | 18 | 13 |
| Deep serve | 3 | 5 |
| Short serve | 2 | 0 |
| Block | 0 | 1 |
| Clear | 7 | 4 |
| Drive | 2 | 3 |
| Drop | 3 | 0 |
| Soft drive | 1 | 0 |
| smash | 0 | 0 |
| ATTEMPT ERROR | 6 | 3 |
| Clear | 1 | 0 |
| Soft drive | 4 | 2 |
| smash | 1 | 1 |
| MORE | ||
| Largest Lead | 7 | 2 |
| W:E Ratio | 1.176 | 0.714 |
| Margin | 4.50 | |
| Set Point % | 2/2-1.000 | |
| Time | 17:33 |