Dao SANGWANG / Goldy MOUA 2, Say PAW / Gay Ler HTOO 1 (24-26, 21-19, 20-11)
The #1 seeded Johnson pair of Dao Sangwang and Goldy Moua outlasted the Washington duo of Say Paw and Gay Ler Htoo for the St. Paul City doubles title on Thursday at Harding. This was the second time these doubles met with the Eagles cutting their deficit score in the process. Sangwang & Moua are 14-1 so far on the year. Their only loss was to Washington, but the combination of Ma K Moo & Eh Ku Paw. That combination will be resurrected in the team portion of the state tournament as the Eagles’ first doubles pair while Say Paw and Gay Ler Htoo will be second doubles.
The Governors had to scramble in the first two sets seeing a 19-16 lead evaporate in set one when Say Paw came up with a run of three after her soft drive earned the side out to push Washington in front 20-19. Moua held off that set point with a smash to tie it at 20. Moua then had a 23-stroke clear, the longest rally of the match, to give Johnson their first set point chance. On the serve receive Htoo cleared it to knot it again at 21. Moua had a chance to close out for the third opportunity but served into the net. Washington’s second set point chance ended on a Sangwang clear. The third time was a charm however when Paw’s serve ended up causing a hitting error on the second stroke.
That win fueled the first run of the second set with Paw at the line. Moua responded right away with the Governors first run. Wash led 9-6 when Moua came to the service line for a five-point stretch to put Johnson up 12-9. Sangwang on her next service tacked on another run of four for a 17-11 lead. Moua then had the last Johnson run of the set to put them on the verge at 20-12. But then the Govs point scoring dried up. Htoo held off set point six straight times. That made the score 20-19 and visions of set one danced in the heads of the Eagles faithful. Those dreams ended in an eight-stroke hitting error in the net to even the match at one apiece. But Johnson was breathing a sigh of relief.
Fatigue caught up with Washington in this set. What I mean by that is Johnson did not falter down the stretch and closed off any opportunities for another late charge. With the score 9-8 in favor of the Govs they went on a smash spree with five straight bird crushes, the last four coming on the five stroke. In the last eleven Johnson points, seven came on smashes. For the match had 18 so 39% came at the tail end. By contrast, the Washington smash game was held in check with only two on the day. Winners were a key contributor to the victory with Johnson holding a big 42-20 advantage.
This marks the ninth doubles title for Johnson with the last five times the tournament has run (none in 2020) in the Governors possession (2019-2024).
You may notice the third set score ended short of one point. The camera does not lie. I broke this total match down thanks to video.
Category | SANGWANG | MOUA | PAW | HTOO |
Side out when receiving | 14/28-.500 | 11/25-.440 | 16/33-.484 | 11/29-.379 |
3+ Runs | 3 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
Longest point string | 4 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
SERVING | ||||
First serve | 3 | 1, 2 | ||
Scoring on service | 15/28 | 21/36 | 19/33 | 9/24 |
Serving % | 28/28-1.000 | 32/36-.889 | 32/33-.970 | 22/24-.917 |
Pt generated off serve | .231 | .323 | .339 | .068 |
STROKES | 156 | 173 | 166 | 161 |
WINNERS | 19 | 23 | 12 | 8 |
Aces | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Blocks | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Clears | 4 | 7 | 3 | 3 |
Drives | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Drops | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Soft drives | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
Smashes | 7 | 11 | 0 | 2 |
2nd Stroke Winners | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
SET UP POINTS | 17 | 9 | 17 | 12 |
ERRORS | 23 | 32 | 30 | 36 |
At | 5 | 13 | 11 | 21 |
Deep | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
Net | 6 | 9 | 12 | 3 |
Wide | 5 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
Serve | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
2nd stroke errors | 3 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
W:E Ratio | 0.826 | 0.719 | 0.400 | 0.222 |
TEAM | JOHNSON | WASHINGTON | ||
POINTS | 65 | 56 | ||
Points after 11 | 32 | 29 | ||
First points | 3 | 1, 2 | ||
Longest side out string | 3 | 3 | ||
Strokes per point | 4.815 | 5.446 | ||
5+ rallies | 30 | 25 | ||
2- rallies | 14 | 11 | ||
Largest Lead | 3, 8, 9 | 2, 3, 2 | ||
Margin | 3.000 | |||
Set Point % | 3/12-.250 | 1/3-.333 | ||
Time | 36:35 | Real time |
Next up will be the individual state pairings—what match and who v who.