EDINA 5, HARDING 2
#1 Edina topped visiting Harding Wednesday. The Knights had wins at the odd singles with the third singles match won by Linda Chang going three sets. Edina did get a win in a three-setter at second doubles. Juman Alkhatib and Bergen Pickett needed three sets when Isabelle and Nay took the second set in extra points. There were four sets separated by two points and the Knights prevailed in three of them. The margins overall at singles was less than two points. There was more separation at doubles with the gap 8.286.
Both first singles and doubles were over rather quickly with margins over ten at first doubles and close to that figure at first singles.
SINGLES
- Kimberly Tobar, H def Tenzin Tsephel 21-12, 21-11
- Hazel Dang, E def Gao Zhia Vue 21-16, 21-12
- Linda Chang, H def Aarushi Bhatnager 22-20, 13-21, 21-19
- Claire Watz, E def Tiffany Tran 21-19, 21-5
DOUBLES
- Ivy Peterson / Sanna Coma, E def Kasey / Alisa 21-5, 21-7
- Juman Alkhatib / Bergen Pickett, E def Isabelle / Nay 21-14, 20-22, 21-13
- Ella Burke / Daisy Henningon, E def Gaohli / Eh Lah Shu 21-10, 21-17
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: tied 2-2 .500
Games: Edina 5-4 .556
points: Edina 167-150 .527
Set 1 points: Harding 78-74 .514
Set 2 points: Edina 74-51 .592
Set 3 points: Harding 21-19 .525
decided by 10+: tied 1-1 .500
decided by 3-: Harding 2-1 .667
margin: Edina 1.889
DOUBLES
Matches: Edina 3-0 1.000
Games: Edina 6-1 .857
points: Edina 146-88 .624
Set 1 points: Edina 63-29 .685
Set 2 points: Edina 62-46 .574
Set 3 points: Edina 21-13 .618
decided by 10+: Edina 3-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Harding 1-0 1.000
margin: Edina 8.286
FIRST SINGLES
Kimberly TOBAR 2, Tenzin TSEPHEL 0 (21-12, 21-12)
This was a battle of top five players with TnT potential (Tobar & Tsephel). The explosive action was rather muted. This did not live up to the billing. #3 Kimberly Tobar came over to Edina and breezed to a two-set sweep over #2 Tenzin Tsephel. Some of these were self-inflicted wounds. Four missed serves in set one took away any opportunity to score for Tsephel. Both sets were error prone for Tsephel with 12 in the first set ballooning out to 18 in set two. Tsephel “won” the winners in set two 7-3 but staring down a 20-7 deficit is not the ideal spot to build runs. And that was her only run in set two.
The match started off inauspiciously for Tsephel. She won the right to serve, but, as a harbinger of ill omens, it sailed deep. That opened the opportunity for Tobar’s first run. Tsephel responded with a run of her own capped by her favorite shot in the first set the soft drive for two straight points on three strokes. Tobar’s second run came after another missed serve. This time the run was four including an ace in the mix. Once Tsephel got the bird back again there was another missed serve—making two straight. Still, it was competitive as Tsephel squeezed out a run of three on sixth service cutting the lead to 10-9. That would end her scoring from service in that set. An eight stroke drop ignited Tobar’s third run. For some reason this set was off one point for each player. I had 20-12 when it stopped.
Set two had some of the hall marks of the first set. After winning the first point on four stroke soft drive to the right Tsephel gave the bird right back with a missed serve. Both players traded side outs for six points when Tobar broke free. All five points in her run came gift wrapped as hitting errors; two off net hitting errors on the two stroke. The next run for Tobar was even larger with seven, again all hitting errors. This time the two stroke errors were four showcasing Tobar’s ability to keep Tsephel off balance. But Tobar also had issues. Match point proved difficult to close out. Tobar, for a change, missed her serve and Tsephel held off the inevitable five more times including two three stroke blocks. A four-stroke drive finished the match after 13 minutes.
29 of the 65 total points were two strokes or less.
| Category | TOBAR | TSEPHEL |
| Side out | 12/16-.750 | 6/15-.400 |
| Longest side out string | 5 | 3 |
| 3+ Runs | 7 | 3 |
| Longest point string | 7 | 5 |
| SERVING | ||
| First serve | 2 | 1 |
| First point | 1 | 2 |
| Service points | 25 | 9 |
| Serving % | 39/40-.975 | 20/25-.800 |
| Point generated off serve | .610 | .375 |
| POINTS | 41 | 24 |
| Points after 11 | 19 | 10 |
| Points after own errors | 7 | 11 |
| Winners after own errors | 2 | 5 |
| STROKES | 134 | 71 |
| Strokes per point | 3.268 | 3.087 |
| 5+ rallies (%) | 8 | 3 |
| 2- rallies (%) | 18 | 11 |
| WINNERS | 8, 3-11 | 7, 7-14 |
| Aces | 2 | 0 |
| Blocks | 0 | 2 |
| Clears | 1 | 2 |
| Drives | 1 | 0 |
| Drops | 3 | 1 |
| Soft drives | 1 | 7 |
| Smashes | 3 | 2 |
| Even Stroke Winners | 2 | 9 |
| 2nd Stroke Winners | 1 | 8 |
| Odd Stroke Winners | 9 | 5 |
| ERRORS | 5, 5-10 | 12, 18-30 |
| Deep | 2 | 4 |
| Net | 3 | 11 |
| Wide | 4 | 10 |
| Serve | 1 | 5 |
| Even stroke errors | 3 | 17 |
| 2nd stroke errors | 2 | 9 |
| Odd stroke errors | 7 | 13 |
| WINNER LOCATION | ||
| Left | 1 | 5 |
| Right | 10 | 9 |
| Largest Lead | 8, 13 | 0, 1 |
| W:E Ratio | 1.100 | 0.467 |
| Margin | 8.500 | |
| Set Point % | 2/8-.250 | |
| Time | 13:30 |
First doubles should be available tomorrow. I just need to digest one match.