HARDING 5, HIGHLAND PARK 2
Harding picked up their second win in the St. Paul conference with a 5-2 victory at Highland Park. The Knights swept the singles and added third doubles for the win. Four of the matches lasted three sets. Three of those contests went to Harding. A flip of six points would have turned the tables and HP would have won 5-2. Showcasing the tightness of the day, five sets went to extra points. The Knights captured four of those nailbiters.
SINGLES
1. Gaozhia Vue, H def Nica Johnson 23-21, 13-21, 21-13
2. Linda Chang, H def Houahna Yang 21-13, 21-16
3. Tiffany Tran, H def Justina Than 18-21, 24-22, 21-9
4. Paige Xiong, H def Birtukuan Aregawi 21-12, 21-18
DOUBLES
1. Alice Verbrugge / Violet Solem Valentine, HP def Nay Gay / Gaohli Chang 22-24, 21-17, 21-18
2. Abby Putz / Edi Damiyo, HP def Summer Hang / Chiasi Chang 21-12, 21-9
3. Kelly Yang / Chiashe Moua, H def Natalia Gercheva / Lar Say Paw 21-13, 21-23, 22-20
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Harding 4-0 1.000
Games: Harding 8-2 .800
points: Harding 204-166 .656
Set 1 points: Harding 83-67 .553
Set 2 points: Harding 79-77 .506
Set 3 points: Harding 42-22 .656
decided by 10+: Harding 1-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Harding 3-0 1.000
margin: Harding 3.80
DOUBLES
Matches: Highland Park 2-1 .667
Games: Highland Park 4-3 .571
points: Highland Park 162-144 .506
Set 1 points: Harding 57-56 .504
Set 2 points: Highland Park 65-47 .580
Set 3 points: Highland Park 41-40 .506
decided by 10+: Highland Park 1-0 1.000
decided by 3-: tied 2-2 .500
margin: Highland Park 2.25
FIRST SINGLES
Gaozhia VUE 2, Nica JOHNSON 1
(23-21, 13-21, 21-14)
Harding’s Gaozhia Vue won her second straight match, a tight three setter with Nica Johnson. Vue spent most of last season as Harding’s third singles while Johnson was the Scots’ fourth singles. For the past three seasons three different Scots have won the state singles title. Harding was last year’s runner up. It was symbolic to start the season at HP. Both players were similar when it came to stats. Johnson tended to be a bit more defensive, winning longer stroke rallies while Vue was more aggressive on the attack with clears notching 11 points and smashing another nine. Johnson had more finesse winners with 14 ending on the soft drive. One factor Johnson will want to change is the service game. She missed on eight, usually nets as she tried to skim the top. Four of Vue’s nine runs began with a Johnson missed serve. Vue, by contrast, missed only three. Vue had a narrow edge in those faster points 19-17.
The first set held the most drama going to extra points with seven lead changes. Johnson started with service, but missed the first try. She notched a four-point run to take her first lead at 4-2 and then tacked on three more for a 9-5 lead. By that point three of her seven winners were soft drives while Vue only had one winner—an ace for her second point. Vue took the lead with a run of five to go up 13-11. That run started with two straight clears to the left. Johnson went back up 14-13 with her third run. Johnson held an 18-16 lead but missed her serve after a two-stroke soft drive. That opened the door for three straight points putting Vue back up 19-18. A four-stroke smash tied it up, and then a hitting error gave Johnson her first set point. Vue used a back hand four stroke drive to hold off the first set point. Another hitting error gave Johnson a second crack at set point. This time Vue needed an eight-stroke smash to tie it at 21. First a three-stroke clear and then an attempted soft drive on the second stroke secured Vue the victory.
Johnson stormed back in set two with the first three points, and then runs that ended at 6-1, and 15-7. Both of Vue’s runs in the second set began with Johnson’s missed serves.
Vue was the first to gain traction in the third set but her first run didn’t come until she broke a seven all tie. She regained the bird with a four-stroke soft drive and then capped it off with two straight smashes to make it 11-7. Johnson was unable to generate any momentum after that, only scoring two points off her five services.
| Category | VUE | JOHNSON |
| Side out | 12/31-.387 | 16/30-.533 |
| Longest side out string | 3 | 3×3 |
| 3+ Runs | 9 | 7 |
| Longest point string | 5 | 4×2 |
| SERVING | ||
| First serve | 2 | 1,3 |
| First point | 1,3 | 2 |
| Service points | 26 | 27 |
| Serving % | 53/56-.946 | 47/55-.855 |
| Point generated off serve | .456 | .491 |
| POINTS | 57 | 55 |
| Points after 11 | 30 | 27 |
| Points after own errors | 12 | 12 |
| Winners after own errors | 8 | 8 |
| STROKES | 202 | 240 |
| Strokes per point | 3.544 | 4.364 |
| 5+ rallies (%) | 18 | 23 |
| 2- rallies (%) | 19 | 17 |
| WINNERS | 31 | 31 |
| Aces | 2 | 2 |
| Blocks | 0 | 1 |
| Clears | 11 | 5 |
| Drives | 3 | 1 |
| Drops | 2 | 3 |
| Soft drives | 4 | 14 |
| Smashes | 9 | 5 |
| Even Stroke Winners | 12 | 17 |
| 2nd Stroke Winners | 3 | 6 |
| Odd Stroke Winners | 19 | 14 |
| ERRORS | 25 | 26 |
| Deep | 0 | 1 |
| Net | 14 | 11 |
| Wide | 8 | 6 |
| Serve | 3 | 8 |
| Even stroke errors | 13 | 11 |
| 2nd stroke errors | 5 | 6 |
| Odd stroke errors | 12 | 15 |
| Largest Lead | 2, 0, 7 | 4, 8, 2 |
| W:E Ratio | 1.24 | 1.19 |
| Margin | 0.667 | |
| Set Point % | 2/3-.667 | 1/3-.333 |
| Time | 28:33.47 |