BURNSVILLE 6, EDISON 1
#16 Burnsville scored 6-1 victory over visiting #17 Edison to open the team state tournament on Monday. Last year the Blaze finished second in the state tournament to Edina. With the win they face the defending champion Hornets tomorrow. The Blaze are now on a two game winning streak.
Edison first singles Amelia Larson was the only obstacle in the way of a sweep (more in first singles). The rest of the matches all went two sets. The biggest margins came at doubles with Katie Murray and Natalie Portwood holding their opponent to an average of four. There were a handful of tight sets, Celina Cheng of Burnsville opened with a two point win over Larson at first singles. The only set that went to extra points came at third doubles in the first set where the Burnsville duo of Jadali Kuch and Viollet Ruano outlasted the Tommie pair of Hasiba Walizada and Samreen Ayub 23-21.
This match got off to a late start. A few results already filtered in before the birds flew. The Edison bus was delayed.
The past few years only the top sixteen teams were involved in the team portion of the state tournament. This year, away from the pandemic restrictions, the field was opened up to all that wanted to participate.
SINGLES
- Amelia Larson, E def Celina Cheng 19-21, 21-13, 21-12
- Miaoting Fang, B def Addie Brookins 21-7, 21-8
- Isabel Lange, B def Paris Garcia Mejia 21-18, 21-17
- Jihan Mahamed, B def Gail Sisomphane 21-11, 21-14
DOUBLES
- Katie Murray/ Natalie Portwood, B def Ada / Julia 21-6, 21-2
- Rose Lund / Grace Aguilar, B def Afnaan Ali / Bilen Ararso 21-12, 21-12
- Jadali Kuch/ Viollet Ruano, B def Hasiba Walizada/ Samreen Ayub 23-21, 21-7
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Burnsville 3-1 .750
Games: Burnsville 7-2 .778
points: Burnsville 172-136 .558
Set 1 points: Burnsville 84-55 .604
Set 2 points: Burnsville 76-60 .558
Set 3 points: Edison 21-12 .637
decided by 10+: Burnsville 3-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Burnsville 2-0 1.000
margin: Burnsville 4.000
DOUBLES
Matches: Burnsville 3-0 1.000
Games: Burnsville 6-0 1.000
points: Burnsville 128-60 .681
Set 1 points: Burnsville 65-39 .625
Set 2 points: Burnsville 63-21 .750
decided by 10+: Burnsville 3-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Burnsville 1-0 1.000
margin: Burnsville 11.333
FIRST SINGLES
Amelia LARSON 2, Celina CHENG 1 (19-21, 21-13, 21-12)
Amelia Larson provided the Tommies with their only win of the day in a three set contest with Celina Cheng. Larson bounced back from a first set loss that saw Cheng go on a tear late with the last six points. After that episode Larson only allowed two more runs and ten service points across two sets compared to the three runs and twelve in the first. On top of that Larson cleaned up her errors from game one’s 13 to only two in set two and six in three.
Larson established a strong start with the first two runs on her first two services (8-3). That lead stayed with Larson until a seven stroke error put the bird in Cheng’s hand. She never gave it back with two three set smashes in the final six points.
Set two again had Larson get off to the quick lead, this time with three runs across her first four services (10-3). Cheng closed the gap with a run of four (10-7). After that she only squeezed two points off service while Larson tacked on two runs to open things up.
The third set saw Larson rattle off the first seven points, her longest run of the day and that set the tone. Cheng did get as close as 9-6m but Larson was able to score on three of her last four services including the last four points of the match.
Larson had 16 more winners with two double digit winners in clears and drives each going for eleven.
| Category | LARSON | CHENG |
| Side out | 12/26-.462 | 10/26-.385 |
| Longest side out string | 4 | 2 |
| 3+ Runs | 10 | 5 |
| Longest point string | 7 | 6 |
| SERVING | ||
| First serve | 3 | 1, 2 |
| First point | 2, 3 | 1 |
| Service points | 36 | 22 |
| Serving % | 57/60-.950 | 46/47-.979 |
| Point generated off serve | .590 | .478 |
| POINTS | 61 | 46 |
| Points after 11 | 28 | 27 |
| Points after own errors | 9 | 8 |
| Winners after own errors | 4 | 2 |
| STROKES | 245 | 220 |
| Strokes per point | 4.016 | 4.783 |
| 5+ rallies (%) | 21 | 21 |
| 2- rallies (%) | 17 | 10 |
| WINNERS | 41 | 25 |
| Aces | 3 | 3 |
| Blocks | 0 | 0 |
| Clears | 11 | 4 |
| Drives | 11 | 7 |
| Drops | 4 | 1 |
| Soft drives | 5 | 3 |
| Smashes | 7 | 7 |
| Even Stroke Winners | 13 | 11 |
| 2nd Stroke Winners | 7 | 2 |
| Odd Stroke Winners | 28 | 14 |
| ERRORS | 21 | 19 |
| Deep | 3 | 0 |
| Net | 11 | 10 |
| Wide | 4 | 8 |
| Serve | 3 | 1 |
| Even stroke errors | 9 | 6 |
| 2nd stroke errors | 3 | 4 |
| Odd stroke errors | 12 | 13 |
| WINNER LOCATION | ||
| Left | 17 | 5 |
| Right | 24 | 20 |
| Largest Lead | 6, 8, 9 | 2, 0, 0 |
| W:E Ratio | 1.952 | 1.316 |
| Margin | 5.000 | |
| Set Point % | 2/3-.667 | 1/1-1.000 |
| Time | 33:00 | Real time |