EDINA 4, JOHNSON 3
The winning streak continues, now at 51. The #1 Hornets moved to 7-0 on the season with a narrow 4-3 win over #2 Johnson. The badminton battle lived up the billing with The Hornets taking the top three spots in singles along with the top spot in doubles. Both first singles and doubles required three sets and both featured extra points. A flip of two of those points would have delivered a 4-3 win for the Governors; if four were flipped it would have been 5-2 Johnson. The #1 doubles team of Daisy Hennington-Hoff and Ella Burke from Edina fell in the second set, their first set loss of the year. They needed extra points in the third set to stay unbeaten. They faced unranked Gaonou Vang and Angelina. This was their first pairing and the first appearance of any doubles match for Angelina. The usual #1 doubles team for Johnson, Cammie Yang and Aliya Vang, currently ranked #3, won their match in three sets at second doubles. This was their second match in the two slot. Perhaps the match hinged on #6 ranked Evelyn Ge’s come from behind victory at first singles over #1 ranked Amanda Her. (more details on that below).
Johnson now moves to 6-2 overall on the year.
Edina was to have played Harding and Highland Park on Thursday in a triangular at Harding, but that is now off the table. Harding and Highland Park will still play their match. No word if or when a meeting with #3 Harding and Edina will take place.
SINGLES
1 Evelyn Ge, E def Amanda Her 18-21, 22-20, 21-15
2 Aarushi Bhatnagar, E def Amelia Her 21-15, 21-12
3 Ariana Yang, E def Kang Nang Thao 21-12, 21-14
4 Kelly Sheen, J def Katie Lesourd 21-17, 24-22
DOUBLES
1 Daisy / Ella, E def Gaonou Vang / Angelina 21-14, 19-21, 22-20
2 Cammie Yang / Aliya Vang, J def Caitlin Ashton / Angela Chen 21-17, 15-21, 21-10
3 Shalisha / Krystal, J def Jeevika / Cadyn 21-12, 21-15
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Edina 3-1 .750
Games: Edina 6-3 .667
points: Edina 184-154 .544
Set 1 points: Edina 77-69 .527
Set 2 points: Edina 86-70 .551
Set 3 points: Edina 21-15 .583
decided by 10+: none
decided by 3-: Johnson 2-1 .667
margin: Edina 3.333
DOUBLES
Matches: Johnson 2-1 .667
Games: Johnson 5-3 .625
points: Johnson 154-137 .529
Set 1 points: Johnson 56-50 .528
Set 2 points: Johnson 57-55 .509
Set 3 points: Johnson 41-32 .562
decided by 10+: Johnson 1-0 1.000
decided by 3-: tied 1-1 .500
margin: Johnson 2.125
FIRST SINGLES
Evelyn GE 2, Amanda HER 1
(reported 18-21, 22-20, 21-15 recorded 18-21, 23-20, 21-17)
Sixth ranked Evelyn Ge dug her self a hole falling in the first set 21-18 and then trailing 5-1 in the second set before rallying to stop number one ranked Amanda Her. Ge’s side out game got stronger as the match wore on with eleven stops in fourteen service attempts in the critical third set. Ge had a string of eight straight stops to hold off Her. But Her didn’t help her cause one bit with three of those stops self inflicted with serves that were deep. Her had deep issues all match. Ten of her errors sailed long compared to one for Ge. Ge, meanwhile was caught in the net with 13 errors.
Set one saw several lead changes with Ge jumping out to a 5-3 lead only to see Her get the first run of four with all winners to pull in front 7-5. Another run on Her’s sixth service made it 12-8. Ge then held Her off serve three straight times while inching back to tie it at 15. But a two stroke smash (Her had 15 two stroke winners) started a three point run and that became the final margin in set one.
That momentum carried over for Her in the second with a run of five on the second service for the Governor. Ge had her longest run of the day—six points—on her third service to lead 9-6. Her responded with her own run of six on her seventh service to push forward to a 16-12 advantage. Ge tied it up with her second run and then regained the lead 20-18 on her final run. And here is where the scores diverged. I had the match ending at 21-19, but they continued on. My final tally was 23-20. Ge vastly improved her winners from only four in the first to 13 in the second.
You could tell this was a match that mattered with the trading off of services plus the stroke count multiplying. There were 448 strokes total today. Yesterday was 225. Ge held off Her on service eight straight times in the middle of the set turning a 7-6 lead into a 19-13 lead. Besides the missed serves proving detrimental to Her’s cause; Ge utilized three of her five smashes in that sequence. And again the numbers did not add up. For some reason two points evaporated for Her. The end of the match did come on a two stroke smash.
Apparently no one read my story on the first to five winning at a 85% clip. Ge got to five first in the first set (and lost); Her got to five first in the second set (and lost). Ge broke the pattern in the final set. As for the first run & winner Her delivered in the first set, but faltered in the second. Ge had the first in the final frame and won. One area that did ring true in the report from Sunday was the Smash and success rate. Ge won that category 9-2 over Her. Ge gained strength in that department as the match continued moving from zero in the first set to four and then five smashes in the final set. Her’s smashes came in the first.
Ge moves to 4-1 this season. Her is now 6-2 on the year.
| Category | GE | HER |
| Side out | 27/37-.730 | 21/38-.553 |
| Longest side out string | 8 | 4 |
| 3+ Runs | 5 | 5 |
| Longest point string | 6 | 6 |
| SERVING | ||
| First serve | 1, 3 | 2 |
| First point | 1, 2 | 3 |
| Service points | 25 | 21 |
| Serving % | /63 | /58 |
| Point generated off serve | ||
| POINTS | 62 | 56 |
| Points after 11 | 31 | 31 |
| Points after own errors | 14 | 22 |
| Winners after own errors | 6 | 16 |
| STROKES | 223 | 205 |
| Strokes per point | 3.597 | 3.661 |
| 5+ rallies (%) | 17 | 15 |
| 2- rallies (%) | 30 | 25 |
| WINNERS | 30 | 36 |
| Aces | 0 | 3 |
| Blocks | 0 | 1 |
| Clears | 4 | 10 |
| Drives | 9 | 12 |
| Drops | 4 | 0 |
| Soft drives | 4 | 8 |
| Smashes | 9 | 2 |
| Even Stroke Winners | 20 | 24 |
| 2nd Stroke Winners | 13 | 15 |
| Odd Stroke Winners | 10 | 12 |
| ERRORS | 22 | 32 |
| Deep | 1 | 10 |
| Net | 13 | 6 |
| Wide | 4 | 8 |
| Serve | 4 | 8 |
| Even stroke errors | 9 | 16 |
| 2nd stroke errors | 3 | 9 |
| Odd stroke errors | 13 | 16 |
| WINNER LOCATION | ||
| Left | 18 | 21 |
| Right | 12 | 15 |
| Largest Lead | 2, 3, 6 | 3, 4, 1 |
| W:E Ratio | 1.364 | 1.125 |
| Margin | 2.000 | |
| Set Point % | 2/4-.500 | ½-.500 |
| Time | 28:01.07 |