#1 EDINA 7, #2 COMO PARK 0
For the second time this year #1 Edina has beaten a #2 team in the polls. The first #2 to go down was Johnson. Today it the Hornets handed the #2 Cougars their second loss of the season in a convincing sweep.
The Edina doubles contingent did not lose a set and their margins were a robust 10.67. The Hornet’s singles had a tougher series with margins at 4.10. Como Park was able to stretch a pair of singles matches to three sets, but both landed in the Edina column. Edina’s second single player Aarushi Bhatnagar, ranked #12 in the last poll, is the first player to topple Como Park’s Tsuki Solheid (#9 ranked) who entered the contest with a dozen straight wins.
Edina so far as faced & stopped the top five teams. Only #6 Highland Park is yet to be played to complete the top ten.
Edina moves to 12-0. CP drops to 11-1. The road doesn’t get any easier for the Cougars. Next up is #3 Harding on the road Thursday.
SINGLES
1 Hazel Dang, E def Niko Solheid 16-21, 21-17, 21-17
2 Aarushi Bhatnagar, E def Tsuki Solheid 21-11, 21-16
3 Evelyn, E def Heh Blut Paw 21-19, 21-18
4 Ariana Yang, E def Oo Meh 21-12, 19-21, 21-10
DOUBLES
1 Sanna Coma / Ivy Peterson, E def Asta Ket / Gaolee Yang 21-10, 21-6
2 Bergen Picket / Juman, E def Plar See Sher Ku / Persephone Yang 21-12, 21-9
3 Ella / Daisy, E def Lana Yang / Rose Yang 21-11, 21-14
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Edina 4-0 1.000
Games: Edina 8-2 .800
points: Edina 203-162 .556
Set 1 points: Edina 79-63 .556
Set 2 points: Edina 82-72 .532
Set 3 points: Edina 42-27 .609
decided by 10+: Edina 2-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Edina 2-1 .667
margin: Edina 4.100
DOUBLES
Matches: Edina 3-0 1.000
Games: Edina 6-0 1.000
points: Edina 126-62 .670
Set 1 points: Edina 63-33 .656
Set 2 points: Edina 63-29 .685
decided by 10+: Edina 4-0 1.000
decided by 3-: none
margin: Edina 10.667
FIRST SINGLES
Hazel DANG 2, Niko SOLHEID 1
(reported & recorded 16-21, 21-17, 21-17)
#3 Hazel Dang stopped #6 Niko Solheid in three sets with some important lessons for all in the next few weeks. This match started off with both players combining for 30 winners in the first set with combined errors at 7. There was not much of a drop in the second set with another 26 combined winners and 12 combined errors. But fatigue started to catch up in the third set. Then winners fell to 16 while errors zoomed up to 22. Fresh players are sharp. When tired, mistakes mushroom.
It was a side-out world at the start of the match. It took until the tenth service (Solheid’s fifth) before a player was able to score on serve. The first run didn’t occur until Dang’s eighth service. That became the second lead change of the set at 10-8. Dang maintained that slim two-point advantage until Solheid gained her first run of the match on service twelve. And that was the final lead change at 16-15. Solheid added the final run with the last five points of the set, all winners, including a pair of blocks. Solheid had 18 winners for her points with seven coming on smashes.
The side out start was out the window to begin set two. Dang jumped out to a 4-0 lead and was more selective on moving Solheid around the court. Solheid only had one run in the set, but it also put her in front by the slim margin of 8-7. That four-point run started with a ten-stroke smash. Then the set reverted to side out world for the next six points. Dang got the bird back on a two-stroke soft drive to the right corner and tacked on four more for a 15-11 margin. Dang was in the midst of holding Solheid scoreless on seven straight services. That pushed her margin to 20-15. Solheid held off set point twice before a hitting error ended set two.
Set three started to mimic set two with Dang racing out to a 4-0 lead. The Edina player rang up three runs on her first three services. After being held scoreless on her fourth service she added another run on service five for an extremely healthy 15-5 lead. But things had changed. No longer were the winners holding the cards. Among the initial eight Dang points, six were hitting errors. Soon it would be Solheid’s turn to gain from errors. On the Cougar’s seventh service she erupted for seven points and the 17-8 lead looked precarious at 17-15. A 13-stroke hitting error that sailed deep stopped Solheid’s momentum. The last ten points of the match there was only one winner—a five stroke clear by Dang to make it 20-16.
Dang is now 11-4 on the season while Solheid is 7-6.
| Category | DANG | SOLHEID |
| Side out | 25/35-.714 | 23/34-.676 |
| Longest side out string | 7 | 6 |
| 3+ Runs | 7 | 4 |
| Longest point string | 5 | 7 |
| SERVING | ||
| First serve | 1, 3 | 2 |
| First point | 2, 3 | 1 |
| Service points | 24 | 21 |
| Serving % | 57/58-.983 | 51/55-.927 |
| Point generated off serve | .414 | .382 |
| POINTS | 58 | 55 |
| Points after 11 | 26 | 31 |
| Points after own errors | 9 | 13 |
| Winners after own errors | 4 | 9 |
| STROKES | 254 | 205 |
| Strokes per point | 4.379 | 3.727 |
| 5+ rallies (%) | 23 | 17 |
| 2- rallies (%) | 22 | 20 |
| WINNERS | 35 | 37 |
| Aces | 0 | 1 |
| Blocks | 2 | 2 |
| Clears | 9 | 2 |
| Drives | 4 | 1 |
| Drops | 7 | 5 |
| Soft drives | 6 | 9 |
| Smashes | 7 | 17 |
| Even Stroke Winners | 21 | 25 |
| 2nd Stroke Winners | 13 | 14 |
| Odd Stroke Winners | 14 | 12 |
| ERRORS | 18 | 23 |
| Deep | 0 | 4 |
| Net | 13 | 8 |
| Wide | 4 | 7 |
| Serve | 1 | 4 |
| Even stroke errors | 7 | 9 |
| 2nd stroke errors | 4 | 5 |
| Odd stroke errors | 11 | 14 |
| WINNER LOCATION | ||
| Left | 16 | 11 |
| Right | 19 | 26 |
| Largest Lead | 2, 5, 10 | 5, 1, 0 |
| W:E Ratio | 1.944 | 1.609 |
| Margin | 1.000 | |
| Set Point % | 2/5-.400 | 1/1-1.000 |
| Time | 25:13 |