TWIN CITY CHAMPIONSHIP
#2 COMO PARK 7, #13 ROOSEVELT 0
The Twin City Championship series started in 1978 and continued until 1995, the year before the “state” tournament started. The series resumed in 2016. Prior to 1995 Minneapolis was the predominant power with 13 of the 18 titles (three years we don’t know who won). That meant St. Paul won two that we know about—1990 & 1992 by Johnson. Since the resumption it has been all St. Paul with shutouts in five of the seven meetings including today (there were no matches in the virus years 2020 and 2021). The Cougars are a first time Twin City Champ. CP was swept by Southwest in 1980 (5-0 then) and lost in 1982 to Henry 6-1. Today the Cougars held the brooms in dispatching the Teddies. CP won every set with 18 the most points gained by Roosevelt in two sets. The margins at singles was double digits at 11.5. Roosevelt fared better at doubles with the margins at 8. Double digits differentials came in half of the fourteen sets.
SINGLES
1 Niko Solheid, CP def Sophie 21-11, 21-6
2 Tsuki Solheid, CP def Mollie 21-15, 21-16
3 Oo Meh, CP def Lily 21-13, 21-10
4 Heh Blut Paw, CP def Amelia 21-3, 21-2
DOUBLES
1 Asta Ket / Gaolee Yang, CP def Abi / Ella 21-10, 21-10
2 Plar See Sher Ku / Persephone Yang, CP def Ayide / July 21-18, 21-15
3 Lana Yang / Rose Yang, CP def Heidi / Emma 21-12, 21-13
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Como Park 4-0 1.000
Games: Como Park 8-0 1.000
points: Como Park 168-76 .689
Set 1 points: Como Park 84-42 .667
Set 2 points: Como Park 84-34 .712
decided by 10+: Como Park 5-0 1.000
decided by 3-: none
margin: Como Park 11.500
DOUBLES
Matches: Como Park 3-0 1.000
Games: Como Park 6-0 1.000
points: Como Park 126-78 .618
Set 1 points: Como Park 63-40 .612
Set 2 points: Como Park 63-38 .624
decided by 10+: Como Park 2-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Como Park 1-0 1.000
margin: Como Park 8.000
FIRST SINGLES
Niko SOLHEID 2, Sophie MITCHELL 0 (21-11, 21-6)
#4 Niko Solheid of Como held her Roosevelt opponent Sophie Mitchell to 8.5 points per set in a convincing sweep to start off the TC Championship match. Slamming the door on service is critical and Solheid prevented Mitchell from gaining any traction. Solheid overwhelmed in service points 29-5 and in winners 37-9. Two Solheid winner categories reached the double digit phase with a dozen smashes and ten soft drives. Bold brush strokes, and soft pastels if it were a painting. Neither player was in error mode with both combining for only 13.
Right from the start Solheid established her mark on the game with the first four points. By the time her second service was over she was up 10-2. Early on stroke counts were high with the first three points five strokes or more. Mitchell had two runs for the day, both in the first set with the first narrowing the gap to 13-7. The second narrowed it further to 15-11. Then there was a brick wall. Solheid closed with the final six points, all winners with the final two blocks showcasing the brick wall aspect.
Solheid again started the second set with the first three points. But this time Mitchell was unable to generate anything off her serve. The only two stroke winner for Solheid came on a soft drive late in the set.
Mitchell has 11 wins at first singles, all against Minneapolis opponents. She is also the defending Minneapolis Singles titlist. Solheid has ten wins on the year including a pair against Su Meh of Johnson. Both cities will hold their championships the next two days. Minneapolis will wrap up the singles title tomorrow, and doubles on Thursday. St. Paul crowns both singles and doubles on Thursday after the Wednesday prelims.
After this match ended I ran over to Hiawatha and was able to see the second set of the first singles match with Prairie Seeds. Those two schools were #29 and #30 on my bingo card and now I have seen all the teams. (in the nick of time). Hiawatha is in South Minneapolis a couple blocks north of Lake Street by Bracket Park. One interesting feature today was concessions. Both schools had concessions. That was a first times two. Hiawatha also honored their seniors with a photo display.
| Category | SOLHEID | MITCHELL |
| Side out | 10/13-.769 | 4/14-.286 |
| Longest side out string | 6 | 3 |
| 3+ Runs | 6 | 2 |
| Longest point string | 7 | 3 |
| SERVING | ||
| First serve | 2 | 1 |
| First point | 1, 2 | |
| Service points | 29 | 5 |
| Serving % | 41/41-1.000 | 18/ 18-1.000 |
| Point generated off serve | .690 | .278 |
| POINTS | 42 | 17 |
| Points after 11 | 20 | 11 |
| Points after own errors | 6 | 1 |
| Winners after own errors | 6 | 1 |
| STROKES | 177 | 55 |
| Strokes per point | 4.214 | 3.235 |
| 5+ rallies (%) | 19 | 4 |
| 2- rallies (%) | 6 | 7 |
| WINNERS | 37 | 9 |
| Aces | 0 | 1 |
| Blocks | 3 | 0 |
| Clears | 7 | 0 |
| Drives | 0 | 3 |
| Drops | 5 | 0 |
| Soft drives | 10 | 0 |
| Smashes | 12 | 5 |
| Even Stroke Winners | 11 | 7 |
| 2nd Stroke Winners | 1 | 6 |
| Odd Stroke Winners | 26 | 3 |
| ERRORS | 8 | 5 |
| Deep | 0 | 0 |
| Net | 6 | 2 |
| Wide | 2 | 3 |
| Serve | 0 | 0 |
| Even stroke errors | 3 | 4 |
| 2nd stroke errors | 0 | 3 |
| Odd stroke errors | 5 | 1 |
| WINNER LOCATION | ||
| Left | 21 | 2 |
| Right | 16 | 7 |
| Largest Lead | 10, 15 | 0, 0 |
| W:E Ratio | 4.625 | 1.800 |
| Margin | 12.50 | |
| Set Point % | 2/2-1.000 | |
| Time | 14:55 |