Tuesday I headed to Como Park for the sweet 16 and quarterfinal rounds. Why CP? They had three players in the top eight in singles at one site. Johnson had two, Harding had two, and Edina had one. As it turned out, CP was also site of the tightest contests in the sweet 16 and quarterfinal rounds. Both involved Highland Park, and they split on the day winning over Central, but falling to the hosts in the quarters by the same 4-3 scores.
Here is what happened with the first singles at this site:
#4 Niko Solheid of host & #2 seed Como Park beat Sebrina Xiong of Tartan 2-0. My score was 21-11, 23-5. 23????.
Next came the three set battle between #5 Lennon Folstad of Central against #8 Nica Johnson of Highland Park. That match was a grueling 31:36 minute slugfest with two sets going to extra points. This was the rubber match between the two with a split. Folstad pulled out the win in the hot gym 22-24, 20??-11, 23-21. Despite the victory for Folstad her day was done when the Minutemen lost to the Scots 4-3.
The quarterfinals featured the Nico-Nica encounter. This was the pairs fourth contest this year and it ended up with Solheid winning in two 21-9, 21-17. For the year Solheid is 3-1 vs Nica Johnson.
What follows is a brief synopsis.
GAME 1
Nico SOLHEID 2, Sebrina XIONG 0 (recorded 21-11, 23-5)
| Category | SOLHEID | XIONG |
| Side out | 12/14-.857 | 6/15-.400 |
| 3+ Runs | 7 | 0 |
| SERVING | ||
| Service points | 30 | 2 |
| POINTS | 44 | 16 |
| WINNERS | 21 | 9 |
| Aces | 2 | 0 |
| Blocks | 1 | 0 |
| Clears | 6 | 1 |
| Drives | 2 | 0 |
| Drops | 4 | 3 |
| Soft drives | 2 | 2 |
| Smashes | 4 | 3 |
| ERRORS | 7 | 23 |
| Deep | 3 | 4 |
| Net | 2 | 12 |
| Wide | 0 | 4 |
| Serve | 2 | 3 |
| W:E Ratio | 3.000 | 0.391 |
| Margin | 14.00 | |
| Set Point % | 2/3-.667 | |
| Time | 14:09 |
GAME 2
Lennon FOLSTAD 2, Nica JOHNSON 1 (recorded 22-24, 20-11, 23-21)
Both players had opportunities to win in the first and third sets. Johnson got off to a 5-1 start in the final set. Folstad battled back after two straight runs to lead 12-8. Johnson punched back with a run of six to pull in front 15-14. Back to Folstad with a run of three 17-15. Folstad led 19-17 on the brink when Johnson ran off three straight to make it 20-19 match point. A four stroke clear to the left back tied it. Another match point opportunity for Johnson after a three stroke wide error. A smash error that found the net on the seventh stroke tied it again at 21. Two more errors had Folstad winning. Fatigue had to play a part with the errors upticking through the match while winners declined for both. The last seven points combined featured six errors including the last four points.
| Category | FOLSTAD | JOHNSON |
| Side out | 18/32-.563 | 15/31-.484 |
| 3+ Runs | 10 | 6 |
| SERVING | ||
| Service points | 34 | 26 |
| POINTS | 65 | 56 |
| WINNERS | 12-13-10-35 | 13-6-9–28 |
| Aces | 2 | 2 |
| Blocks | 2 | 2 |
| Clears | 9 | 4 |
| Drives | 1 | 0 |
| Drops | 6 | 1 |
| Soft drives | 0 | 5 |
| Smashes | 15 | 14 |
| ERRORS | 11-5-12–28 | 10-7-13–30 |
| Deep | 5 | 5 |
| Net | 12 | 10 |
| Wide | 8 | 8 |
| Serve | 3 | 7 |
| W:E Ratio | 1.250 | 0.933 |
| Margin | 3.000 | |
| Set Point % | 2/5-.400 | 1/5-.200 |
| Time | 31:36 |
GAME 3
Nico SOLHEID 2, Nica JOHNSON 0 (recorded 21-9, 21-17)
| Category | SOLHEID | JOHNSON |
| Side out | 13/18-.722 | 8/19-.421 |
| 3+ Runs | 7 | 3 |
| SERVING | ||
| Service points | 24 | 9 |
| POINTS | 42 | 26 |
| WINNERS | 20 | 15 |
| Aces | 3 | 1 |
| Blocks | 2 | 0 |
| Clears | 4 | 3 |
| Drives | 0 | 2 |
| Drops | 3 | 0 |
| Soft drives | 5 | 0 |
| Smashes | 3 | 9 |
| ERRORS | 11 | 22 |
| Deep | 1 | 6 |
| Net | 4 | 7 |
| Wide | 3 | 7 |
| Serve | 3 | 2 |
| W:E Ratio | 1.818 | 0.682 |
| Margin | 8.000 | |
| Set Point % | 2/2-1.000 | |
| Time | 16:44 |