MINNEAPOLIS CITY SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP
It was day one of the Minneapolis City title chase with singles in the spotlight at Henry. Tomorrow the doubles take center stage. The top two seeds ended up facing each other in the title contest with #1 Grace of Southwest outlasting #2 Amelia of Edison in three sets. Grace was down one set and was facing a 15-10 deficit in the second set when she got her second wind and finished with a 10-3 kick (they both stopped at 20). That momentum carried over into the final frame when she started the set with the first three points.
Winners ruled the day. Most of the birds were skimming the net. However, when Grace was given the opportunity to smash, she let loose with eleven for winners. Grace had three double digit winners with clears leading the way with 15. Amelia had 11 drives. Both combined had 21 drives for winners. Rallies tended to go long today. Grace won the long rallies 27-12. Amelia controlled the short points (two strokes or less) 17-10.
It was interesting to note that both players were 100% on serve.
This event was supposed to start at 4:30. It did not. There were breaks in the action as they waited for the entire quarterfinals to finish before moving on. The last bird was served around 7:30—-a little short of three hours to get 23 games in on eight courts.
Grace became the eighth Laker to win a city title; the first since 2019.
SINGLES
SWEET 16 ROUND
Grace, SW1 def Tilli, N2 21-7, 21-9
Angela, E2 def Hannah, W1 21-10, 21-12
Eva, SW3 def Rhiannon, R1 21-9, 19-21, 21-11
Natasha, H1, def Lucea, S2 13-21, 22-20, 21-11
Liana, S1 def McKinley W2 21-11, 21-13
Lauren, SW2 def Nkaujzoo H2 21-12, 21-17
Ella, R2 def Asiah, N1 21-10, 21-12
Amelia, E1 def Monce R3 21-8, 21-7
CONSOLATION QUARTERFINALS
Nkaujazoo H2 def Monce R3
McKinley W2 def Asiah, N1
Rhiannon, R1 def Hannah, W1
Lucea, S2 def Tilli, N2
QUARTERFINALS
Grace, SW1 def Angela, E2 21-8, 21-8
Natasha, H1, def Eva, SW3 21-17, 21-7
Liana, S1 def Lauren, SW2 21-16, 18-21, 21-9
Amelia, E1 def Ella, R2 21-18, 24-22
CONSOLATION SEMIS
Nkaujazoo H2 def McKinley W2
Lucea, S2 def Rhiannon, R1
SEMIFINAL
Grace, SW1 def Natasha, H1 21-12, 21-13
Amelia, E1 def Liana, S1 21-17, 18-21, 21-18
CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP
Lucea, S2 def Nkaujazoo H2 21-16, 21-19
THIRD PLACE
Natasha, H1, def Liana, S1 21-19, 22-20
CHAMPIONSHIP
Grace, SW1 def Amelia, E1 18-21, 20-18, 21-13
SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP
GRACE 2, AMELIA 1
(17-21, 20-15, 21-18
| Category | GRACE | AMELIA |
| Side out | 13/29-.448 | 11/29-.379 |
| Longest side out string | 4 | 3 |
| 3+ Runs | 10 | 6 |
| Longest point string | 4 | 4 |
| SERVING | ||
| First Serve | 1, 3 | 2 |
| Service points | 31 | 24 |
| Serving % | 59/59-1.000 | 52/52-1.000 |
| Point generated off serve | .729 | .615 |
| POINTS | 59 | 52 |
| Points after 11 | 30 | 24 |
| Points after own errors | 7 | 16 |
| Winners after own errors | 5 | 3 |
| STROKES | ||
| Strokes | 275 | 196 |
| Strokes per point | 3.254 | 4.000 |
| 5+ rallies | 27 | 12 |
| 2- rallies | 10 | 17 |
| WINNERS | 43 | 32 |
| By set | 14-13-16 | 13-10-9 |
| Aces | 1 | 3 |
| Blocks | 1 | 1 |
| Clears | 15 | 8 |
| Drives | 10 | 11 |
| Drops | 5 | 0 |
| Soft drives | 0 | 3 |
| Smashes | 11 | 6 |
| ERRORS | 20 | 16 |
| By set | 8-8-4 | 3-7-5 |
| Deep | 6 | 0 |
| Fans | 0 | 0 |
| Net | 4 | 13 |
| Wide | 10 | 3 |
| Serve | 0 | 0 |
| SET UP | 12 | 20 |
| Deep serve | 4 | 5 |
| Short serve | 0 | 1 |
| Block | 0 | 0 |
| Clear | 5 | 6 |
| Drive | 0 | 4 |
| Drop | 1 | 0 |
| Soft drive | 2 | 4 |
| smash | 0 | 0 |
| ATTEMPT ERROR | 9 | 9 |
| Clear | 4 | 0 |
| Drop | 1 | 1 |
| Soft drive | 0 | 6 |
| smash | 4 | 2 |
| MORE | ||
| Largest Lead | 8 | 5 |
| W:E Ratio | 2.150 | 2.000 |
| Margin | 4.333 | |
| Set Point % | 2/3-.667 | 1/1-1.000 |
| Time | 32:59 |