HIGHLAND PARK 5, WASHINGTON 2
And the race is on. Highland Park knocked off undefeated Washington putting the Eagles right now in a tie with Como Park. The Cougars lost in the first match of the year to Washington, but CP stopped Highland Park on Monday. Now the Scots have a win over Washington. But HP is only 2-1 in the city race, the other two are 3-1.
Today the Scots swept the singles without losing a set. In fact, they their margins were 10.5 across singles. Washington picked up their two wins at second and third doubles. Again, all contests were two sets. The tightest match across the day was third doubles where Washington’s margin was four. The closest set came in the second set of second doubles, which also was the only set to go to extra points. Even though Washington won the doubles, HP was gaining strength actually winning the total point battle for that second frame.
SINGLES
1. Phlower Vang, HP def Ariel Fang 21-11, 21-10
2. Tsheng Yang, HP def Nancy Hang 21-12, 21-11
3. Houahna Yang, HP def Bao Nhia Moua 21-6, 21-13
4. Nica Johnson, HP def TK Paw 21-14, 21-7
DOUBLES
1. Bety Shiferaw / Edi Damiyo, HP def Ma K Moo / Eh Ku Paw 21-13, 21-9
2. Say Paw / Gay Ler Htoo, W def Alice Verbrigge / Violet Solem Valentine 21-8, 23-21
3. Emiliah Lee / Samira Abdi, W def Abby Putz / Julia Yang 21-17, 21-17
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Highland Park 4-0 1.000
Games: Highland Park 8-0 1.000
points: Highland Park 168-84 .667
Set 1 points: Highland Park 84-43 .661
Set 2 points: Highland Park 84-41 .672
Set 3 points: none
decided by 10+: Highland Park 5-0 1.000
decided by 3-: none
margin: Highland Park 10.5
DOUBLES
Matches: Washington 2-1 .667
Games: Washington 4-2 .667
points: Washington 108-105
Set 1 points: Washington 55-46
Set 2 points: Highland Park 59-53
Set 3 points: none
decided by 10+: tied 1-1 .500
decided by 3-: Washington 1-0 1.000
margin: Washington 0.500
FIRST SINGLES
Phlower Vang 2, Ariel Fang 0 (19-11, 21-10)
Highland Park’s Phlower Vang stayed unbeaten so far in the 2024 campaign with a two-set win over Washington’s Ariel Fang. Vang’s first two wins this season were three setters. Vang, last year’s number two for the Scots, finished 2023 with a record of 21-2. The last two state champions (HaNeul Jeong McDonell, and Sunshine Vang) have worn the HP uniform and Vang will be looking to continue that trend.
Today Vang established a clear mark in winners (26-7).
The first set really didn’t break to Vang until her sixth service where she got her first run of the match. The game was knotted at eight when she got a two-stroke soft drive to the right to get the bird back. Then she tacked on four more for a 13-8 lead. A combination of drives and soft drops propelled her forward. On her seventh service she added a four-point run. For some reason this set ended two points early.
Fang had her only lead of the match on the first point. The game was tied at five (with two straight missed serves by Vang helping Fang’s cause) when Vang initiated three straight runs, the last two being six pointers, to break away from Fang. In the first run of six out to 14-6 Vang notched six straight winners, four of which were three strokes or less. In the second run of six out to 20-8 Vang had three, but with longer stroke counts. The soft drive again proved to be the winner of choice with four. On point 19 she had a three stroke back handed soft drive to Fang’s left.
| Category | VANG | FANG |
| Side out | 8/14-.571 | 4/15-.267 |
| Longest side out string | 3 | 2 |
| 3+ Runs | 6 | 1 |
| Longest point string | 6(2x) | 3 |
| SERVING | ||
| First serve | 1, 2 | 0 |
| First point | 1 | 2 |
| Service points | 26 | 7 |
| Serving % | 37/40-.925 | 20/21-.952 |
| Point generated off serve | .650 | .333 |
| POINTS | 40 | 21 |
| Points after 11 | 18 | 7 |
| Points after own errors | 11 | 8 |
| Winners after own errors | 8 | 3 |
| STROKES | 154 | 89 |
| Strokes per point | 3.85 | 4.238 |
| 5+ rallies (%) | 13 | 8 |
| 2- rallies (%) | 14 | 8 |
| WINNERS | 26 | 7 |
| Aces | 1 | 0 |
| Blocks | 0 | 0 |
| Clears | 3 | 1 |
| Drives | 7 | 3 |
| Drops | 4 | 1 |
| Soft drives | 8 | 2 |
| Smashes | 3 | 0 |
| Even Stroke Winners | 10 | 5 |
| 2nd Stroke Winners | 5 | 3 |
| Odd Stroke Winners | 16 | 2 |
| ERRORS | 14 | 14 |
| Deep | 0 | 3 |
| Fan | 0 | 0 |
| Net | 6 | 6 |
| Wide | 5 | 4 |
| Serve | 3 | 1 |
| Even stroke errors | 5 | 11 |
| 2nd stroke errors | 2 | 6 |
| Odd stroke errors | 9 | 3 |
| WINNER LOCATION | ||
| Left | 14 | 2 |
| Right | 11 | 5 |
| Largest Lead | 8, 12 | 0, 1 |
| W:E Ratio | 1.857 | 0.500 |
| Margin | 9.5 | |
| Set Point % | 2/5-.400 | |
| Time | 14:12.28 |