EDINA 4, COMO PARK 3

Three-time defending champ Edina opened their 2026 season on the road at Como Park and picked up their 45 straight win. But this was win number one in the Zoe Chan Era. The Hornets coaching duo of Steve and Margo Henke retired after the third straight team title and building 44 wins. This is currently the third longest winning streak in badminton, two more and they will tie Johnson (2012-14) with 47 wins. Edina will have aways to go to top Johnson (2016-19) with 75 straight wins.

The Cougars did not make it easy for the Hornets. The added benefit of playing four contests already helped. But perhaps back to back matches with a win over Central on Monday may have impacted performance throughout.

The visitors split the singles with the Solheid sisters winning at first and second. The Hornets added the first two doubles in their victory. The way CP’s courts are set up the varsity plays on the four east side courts, the JV on the four west side courts. The first two singles and doubles lead off, so it was split 2-2 after the change over. The third doubles was the only match of the day that went the distance, and then some. The Cougar pair of Emma Kue and Cherea needed extra points in that third set to secure the third CP victory. By then the match was decided.

Margins were razor thin at singles with the total differential in all four matches two points or 0.25 per set and that was in favor of the hosts. In both the singles and doubles the one group that won the field, faded in point differences.

CP moves to 3-2 on the year. Their only other loss was to Humboldt.

SINGLES

1 Niko Solheid, CP def Evelyn Ge 21-15, 23-21

2 Tsuki Solheid, CP def Arushi Bhatnagar 21-7, 21-19

3 Ariana Yang, E def La Shine 21-12, 21-16

4 Katie Lesourd, E def Sada Gobena 21-17, 21-17

DOUBLES

1 Daisy Hennington-Hoff / Ella Burke, E def Asta Ket/ Lana Yang 21-13, 21-16

2 Caitlin Ashton/ Angela, E def Nally See/ Persephone Yang 21-8, 21-18

3 Emma Kue/ Cherea, CP def Shavryaa / Sydney 19-21, 21-13, 22-20,

BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: tied 2-2 .500
Games: tied 2-2 .500
points: Como Park 148-146 .503
Set 1 points: Como Park 71-64 .526
Set 2 points: Edina 82-77 .516
decided by 10+: Como Park 1-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Como Park 2-0 1.000
margin: Como Park 0.25
DOUBLES
Matches: Edina 2-1 .667
Games: Edina 5-2 .714
points: Edina 138-117 .541
Set 1 points: Edina 63-40 .612
Set 2 points: Tied 55-55 .500
Set 3 points: Como Park 22-20 .524
decided by 10+: Como Park 1-0 1.000
decided by 3-: tied 1-1 .500
margin: Edina 3.00

FIRST SINGLES

Niko SOLHEID 2, Evelyn GE 1
(reported 21-15, 23-21 charted 21-15, 23-19)

Niko Solheid’s strong side out game (.731 to .481) plus her second stroke game (10-2 winners to errors) helped propel her to her fifth victory of the season. Solheid, a returning first singles for the Cougars matched up with Evelyn Ge, who last year was the third singles for Edina. This had a different feel than other matches I have charted so far this year and you could see and hear it in the warmups. There is a distinctive sound with the racquet and bird that states this is contacted with authority. The bird jumps off the strings with pop. Players tend not to waste their motion, especially after making contact with the bird. They quickly get back to a ready/neutral position and anticipate the next location instead of drifting or fading away from the action.

It was Ge early in the first set that had the advantage with the first run on her fourth service building a 6-4 lead. But the Solheid clamped down on Ge’s service holding her scoreless five straight services. Amid that shutdown, Solheid had her own run of four to break a ten all tie (14-10). It started on a two-stroke clear. Solheid for the day had ten winners on the second stroke, three more than Ge. She then added a seven-stroke clear to the same left side and then a five-stroke smash. Solheid finished the set with three straight points for her second run of the day.

Solheid opened with service but sailed deep. Solheid’s serving game only checked in at .837 for the day as she tended to miss deep to the left back corner, but that in no way altered the course of the game. Ge only led after that first serve. Then it was Solheid able to squeeze points on her second to fourth services to build a 7-3 lead. Her third miss serve came at this point, so three of Ge’s first four points were on Solheid missed serves. The game pattern then moved to a side out battle with nine straight tradeoffs. Solheid had four winners in that mix, two coming on two stroke soft drives. Ge had three winners in the same sequence, all soft drives, but two were four strokers. Ge got her only run in the second set on her tenth service to cut the gap to 15-13. All three points in that run were on Solheid hitting errors. I had the score at 20-16 after a four-stroke smash. Ge held off match point twice (so I thought) including a nine-stroke smash to make it 20-18. I thought the match was over after a four-stroke clear, but the play continued. Three points later and it was really over after Ge sent the bird deep on a clear attempt.

Category	SOLHEID	GE
Side out	19/26-.731	13/27-.481
Longest side out string	10	4
3+ Runs	3	2
Longest point string	4	3
SERVING
First serve	2	1
First point	1	2
Service points	18	9
Serving %	36/43-.837	35/35-1.000
Point generated off serve	.409	.265
POINTS	44	34
Points after 11	32	17
Points after own errors	11	8
Winners after own errors	9	5
STROKES	193	112
Strokes per point	4.386	3.294
5+ rallies (%)	17	8
2- rallies (%)	16	16
WINNERS	28	17
Aces	0	0
Blocks	0	1
Clears	8	3
Drives	2	2
Drops	4	2
Soft drives	7	5
Smashes	7	4
Even Stroke Winners	20	13
2nd Stroke Winners	10	7
Odd Stroke Winners	8	4
ERRORS	17	15
Deep	4	2
Net	4	6
Wide	2	7
Serve	7	0
Even stroke errors	5	10
2nd stroke errors	2	6
Odd stroke errors	12	5
WINNER LOCATION
Left	16	7
Right	12	10
Largest Lead	6, 5	2, 1
W:E Ratio	1.647	1.133
Margin	5.00
Set Point %	2/4-.500
Time	18:58.93