THE REAR VIEW MIRROR

It was a busy week last week with several key matches. There were also enough churn in the action to scramble up the rankings at singles. Players would stumble to lower rated (or unrated players) which upended the apple cart. And I charted two of those players. Then #1 Evelyn Ge of Edina had a big two set win over then #2 Gao Zhia Vue of Harding in the first battle of the Edina Triangular, but then fell to then unranked Emily Balandin of Math & Science in three. Nica Johnson had a revenge win over Vivian Nguyen of Eden Prairie on Wednesday, but then Kpru Paw of Humboldt had her revenge win over Johnson on Thursday.

On the team end Highland had it both ways—a pair of revenge wins over Washington and Eden Prairie on back to back days, but the momentum didn’t continue with Humboldt getting a revenge win over the Scots on Thursday. Minnetonka took down Wayzata in a revenge win also on Thursday.

Edina maintained their hold on the number one ranking with another 4-3 win over a St. Paul school. Friday it was #2 Harding in a match that was not originally scheduled, and then postponed once before coming to fruition. The Hornets did not have second singles Aarushi Bhatnagar in that win.

The Minneapolis city race was decided when the Roosevelt Teddies went back to back with 6-1 wins over Camden. Roosevelt will now face the St. Paul city champs. That confrontation will take place on Tuesday, May 5 at Roosevelt. That St. Paul race will be decided this week Harding and Johnson each have a loss. The other conference winners will be Edina and Community of Peace Academy.

THE WEEK IN NUMBERS

TEAM MATCHES: 41

SINGLES

INDIVIDUAL MATCHES 164

2 SETS: 137 (.835)

3 SETS: 27 (.165)

TOTAL SETS: 355

MATCHES DECIDED 10+: 78 (.476)

MATCHES DECIDED 3-: 22 (.134)

EXTRA POINT SETS: 14 (6-5-3) (.039)

BIGGEST MARGIN: 20.00 Amelie Champe, Roosevelt 3S v Edison Monday

SMALLEST MARGIN: -1.33 Paige Xiong, Harding 2S v Edina Friday

CATEGORY	AVE	OP AVE	MARGIN
Overall	20.63	11.65	8.98
1S	20.80	12.25	8.55
2S	20.65	11.61	9.04
3S	20.61	11.41	9.20
4S	20.46	11.32	9.15

DOUBLES

INDIVIDUAL MATCHES: 123

2 SETS: 94 (.764)

3 SETS: 29 (.236)

TOTAL SETS: 275

EXTRA POINT SETS: 20 (6-11-3) (.073)

MATCHES DECIDED BY 10+: 50 (.407)

MATCHES DECIDED BY 3-: 23 (.187)

BIGGEST MARGIN: 18.50 Shrestha / Grishma, Math & Science 3D v Twin Cities Academy Monday

SMALLEST MARGIN: -1.00 Hailey Amando-Mendoza, Burnsville 1D v Minnetonka Monday

CATEGORY	AVE	OP AVE	MARGIN
Overall	20.30	12.18	8.12
1D	20.78	12.44	8.33
2D	20.80	12.08	8.72
3D	19.34	12.03	7.31

SERVE/RECEIVE GAME

Win the serve-receive game and you more than likely win the match. This requires a player to have a better won loss record on the one stroke (aces & missed serves) and the two stroke—the return that falls for a winner (or an error). You don’t want your serve to bite you on the rear end. Conversely, the better players seize advantage of opportunities presented on the serve and terminate that service chance helping their side out numbers rise.

How did it look this week?

Day	Player	School	Opp	School	1S	2S	2SW
Mon	Abby	Kennedy	Axel	Fridley	5-0	14-6	2-4
Tues	Nica Johnson	Highland	Ceferina Xiong	Washington	3-1	12-5	7-3
Wed	Nica Johnson	Highland	Vivian Nguyen	Eden Prairie	4-8	14-7	11-4
Thur	Evelyn Ge	Edina	Vivian Nguyen	Eden Prairie	5-0	10-20	5-15
Fri 1	Evelyn Ge	Edina	Gao Zhia Vue	Harding	6-0	6-11	3-9
Fri 2	Gao Zhia Vue	Harding	E Balandin	M&S	2-7	14-3	7-3
Fri 3	E  Balandin	M&S	Evelyn Ge	Edina	14-7	12-23	9-18

Looking at the data winning the one stroke battle resulted in a 5-2 record. Holding the opponent to two points or less in this category resulted in a 5-0 record. Scoring five or more had a 6-1 record. The biggest issue came on missed serves. It has nothing to do with the opponent. The server is in complete control. And missing the serve ends a potential run. There is a fine line between being aggressive and being reckless /careless.

If you win the two stroke battle the mark was 4-3….hmm. Even more puzzling was the amount. The two 20 or more marks LOST. Again defense and limiting opponents to single digits resulted in a record of 4-1. So, I filtered out the hitting errors in the last category (2SW=two stroke winners). Here the data is all over the place. Win the 2 stroke winners and you are only 3-4. Score ten or more winners on the two stroke and you are 1-2. Hold an opponent to five or less winners and you are 4-2. This leads me to believe that defensive badminton might be the key. You don’t want your opponent to score off your serve. You can survive, maybe even win, but I would not recommend it. You will be playing with fire.

THE ROAD AHEAD: STATE TOURNAMENT CALENDAR

Here is a look at how both the team and individual tournament will be structured beginning May 11.

The team portion of the tournament takes place over the first three days starting Monday, May 11. On that day eight teams will be hosting matches. Seeds 9 to 16 will be hosting. Seeds 1 to eight will not be playing that Monday. There will be two matches at each site (provided all 32 teams take part in the tournament). The winner of the first match will play the host in the second match that day.

MONDAY MAY 11

At #9: #24 v #25; winner to play #9

At #10: #23 v #26; winner to play #10

At #11: #22 v #27; winner to play #11

At #12: #21 v #28; winner to play #12

At #13: #20 v #29; winner to play #13

At #14: #19 v #30; winner to play #14

At #15: #18 v #31; winner to play #15

At #16: #17 v #32; winner to play #16

Action then moves to the Sweet 16 round and Quarterfinals on Tuesday.

TUESDAY MAY 12

Four schools will be hosting with two matches (Sweet 16 round) followed by the winners playing (quarterfinals)

At #1: Winner of #16 v #1; winner of #9 v #8; winner of those two matches to follow

At #4: Winner of #13 v #4; Winner of #12 v #5; winner of those two matches to follow

At #2: Winner of #15 v #2; Winner of #10 v #7; winner of those two matches to follow

At #3: Winner of #14 v #3; Winner of #11 v #6; winner of those two matches to follow

Then action moves to Edina for the final four—semis, championship and third place matches.

WEDNESDAY MAY 13

The winners at the four sites move on. Winner of site #1 v winner of site #4; Winner of site #2 v winner of site #3.

THURSDAY MAY 14

The individual portion for singles and doubles will be held at Edina. Expected start time for the field of 64, in both divisions, will be 4:30 (if not earlier).

THE ROAD AHEAD: THE WEEK

Two weeks are left in the regular season. The conference races should be wrapped up by Thursday. St. Paul will have key match ups on Tuesday and Thursday. Harding and Johnson both have one conference loss. Both will face Como Park—Harding travels to CP on Tuesday; the Governors host the Cougars on Thursday. The Cougars have three conference losses so far so they will be looking to spoil it for one or the other. Harding also faces Humboldt on Thursday; Johnson takes on Highland Park on Tuesday.

#1 Edina goes to Washington on Tuesday and then Minnetonka on Thursday. The Hornets expect to stretch their winning streak to 58 when May 1 rolls around.

Fridley will be searching for their first win in program history this week. The Tigers have been active for three years. All their matches are on the road. Wednesday they are scheduled to play at Hiawatha Collegiate.

There are 35 matches on tap to finish up April.

UNDEFEATED

Another 4-3 win over a St. Paul team keeps the Hornets winning streak going with 56. Edina has topped Harding, Johnson and Como Park all by the same 4-3 scores. During the week the Hornets also defeated two Suburban schools: North St. Paul, Eden Prairie plus charter school Math & Science in the second match up of the Friday triangular.

Jenny Lee of Community of Peace stays unblemished at first singles with a pair of two set wins over Twin Cities Academy and Washburn. In both cases the margins were over ten.

Only counting real matches, not scrimmages, Tsuki Solheid of Como Park and Sophia Mitchell of Roosevelt have not lost….in matches. The two faced each other Friday in a scrimmage at CP with Solheid scoring more.

Edina’s first doubles of Daisy Hennington-Hoff and Ella Burke are still undefeated but needed three sets to beat back Harding’s Gray Mo and Cindy Yang. The margin was 4 points. In their other contests the margin was closer to ten.

At second doubles Harding’s Kelly Yang and Lydia Vang fell to the Hornet pair of Ashton and Reese Friday in two sets with a margin of five points. Ashton & Reese have not lost in the six matches they have partnered.

TEAMS: 1 Edina

1^st SINGLES: 1: Jenny Lee, Commuity of Peace

2^nd SINGLES: 1: Tsuki Solheid, Como Park; Sophia Mitchell, Roosevelt

1^ST DOUBLES: 1: Daisy Hennington-Hoff / Ella Burke, Edina

STANDINGS

SAINT PAUL

SCHOOL	CW	CL	TW	TL	SW	SL	DW	DL
Harding	9	1	11	2	38	10	34	5
Johnson	9	1	11	2	37	15	32	7
Como Park	7	3	9	5	41	15	19	23
Humboldt	5	6	6	8	33	23	10	32
Highland Park	3	7	7	8	24	36	34	11
Central	2	8	4	8	15	33	9	27
Washington	1	10	2	10	11	37	8	28

MINNEAPOLIS

SCHOOL	CW	CL	TW	TL	SW	SL	DW	DL
Roosevelt	10	0	13	2	56	4	37	8
Camden	8	2	10	3	34	22	32	10
Edison	5	4	8	4	34	14	24	12
South	4	5	4	6	10	30	12	18
Washburn	2	7	2	9	10	34	5	28
Southwest	2	7	2	9	13	31	5	28
North	1	7	2	8	10	30	9	21

SUBURBAN

SCHOOL	CW	CL	TW	TL	SW	SL	DW	DL
Edina	7	0	12	0	42	6	32	4
Eden Prairie	5	2	7	3	22	18	20	10
Wayzata	4	3	5	3	13	19	15	9
North St. Paul	3	2	5	6	23	21	13	20
Park Center	2	2	7	6	31	21	20	19
Minnetonka	2	4	5	6	24	20	16	17
Burnsville	2	5	3	6	16	20	6	21
Kennedy	2	6	3	8	14	30	9	24
Tartan	1	3	1	7	2	30	13	11
Fridley	0	2	0	4	1	15	0	12

CHARTERS/PRIVATES

SCHOOL	CW	CL	TW	TL	SW	SL	DW	DL
Community of Peace	9	1	10	1	42	2	22	11
Math & Science	3	1	10	5	35	25	36	9
Prairie Seeds	4	4	4	5	12	24	15	12
Hmong CPA	2	3	3	8	22	22	10	23
Twin City Academy	2	5	2	5	11	17	5	16
Eagle Ridge	1	1	1	3	5	11	3	9
Hiawatha	1	5	1	8	1	35	7	20
Com. School of Excellence	0	3	0	3	0	12	1	8

CW conference wins; CL conference losses
TW total wins; TL total losses
SW singles wins; SL singles losses
DW doubles wins; DL doubles losses

TEAM SINGLES WINS

1. Roosevelt 56
2. Community of Peace 42
3. Edina 42
4. Como Park 41
5. Harding 38

TEAM DOUBLES WINS

1. Roosevelt 37
2. Math & Science 36
3. Harding 34
4. Highland Park 34
5. Camden 32
6. Edina 32
7. Johnson 32

RANKINGS

Como Park moves into the top four on the team side.

TEAM

1. Edina 12-0
2. Harding 11-2
3. Johnson 11-2
4. Como Park 9-5
5. Highland Park 7-8
6. Eden Prairie 7-3
7. Humboldt 6-8
8. Roosevelt 13-2
9. Math & Science 10-5
10. Central 4-8
11. Washington 2-10
12. North St. Paul 5-6
13. Community of Peace 10-1
14. Minnetonka 5-6
15. Wayzata 5-3
16. Burnsville 3-6
17. Park Center 7-6
18. Camden 10-3
19. Tartan 1-7
20. Kennedy 3-8
21. Edison 8-4
22. Prairie Seeds 4-5
23. Hmong CPA 3-8
24. South 4-6
25. Southwest 2-9
26. Washburn 2-9
27. Mpls North 2-8
28. Eagle Ridge 1-3
29. Hiawatha 1-8
30. Twin City Academy 2-5
31. Fridley 0-4
32. Community School of Excellence 0-3

INDIVIDUALS

Another week, another change. Four straight weeks and four different number ones. Moving up to the top spot is now Niko Solheid of Como Park. This shows the ongoing turmoil and tumult in the singles world. It shows the narrow pathway available and the multitude of contestants ready to claim the crown. The top four ranked now all have two losses. But if you examine the records you will notice that against the top performers the current #1 Niko Solheid has six victories, one more than Gao Zhia Vue and Amanda Her. On top of that her margin against those players is the best at 2.50. In just regular play her margin is 5.43. And Solheid will face both Vue and Her this week in the lead up to the St. Paul City tournament to be followed by the State Tournament a week later. Get ready for some more white-knuckle roller-coaster rides.

Doubles are a little quieter…..at this point. But there is change going on with lineups with some team’s #1 doubles moving down to #2 doubles and new partnerships across the board. Conference tournaments will sort this out. I hope.

SINGLES

1. Niko Solheid, Como Park 13-2
2. Gao Zhia Vue, Harding 11-2
3. Amanda Her, Johnson 11-2
4. Evelyn Ge, Edina 7-2
5. Tsuki Solheid, Como Park2 15-0
6. Nica Johnson, Highland Park 8-7
7. Mollie Anderson, Roosevelt 13-1
8. Jenny Lee, Community of Peace 11-0
9. Vivian Nguyen, Eden Prairie 6-4
10. Aarushi Bhatnagar, Edina2 9-1
11. Sophia Mitchell, Roosevelt2 15-0
12. Emily Balandin, Math & Science 9-5
13. Isabel Chen, Minnetonka 8-1
14. Kpru Paw, Humboldt 5-9
15. Paige Xiong, Harding2 11-2
16. Rose Braun, Central 3-7

DOUBLES

1. Daisy Hennington-Hoff/ Ella Burke, Edina 12-0
2. Alice Verbrugge / Violet Solem Valentine, Highland Park 11-1
3. Gaonou Vang / Angelina Thao, Johnson 5-1
4. Cammie Yang / Aliya Vang, Johnson2 11-2
5. Gray Mo / Cindy Yang, Harding 9-4
6. Asta Ket / Lana Yang, Como Park 9-6
7. Sanjana Tatikonda / Sathvika Tatikonda, Math & Science 13-2
8. Abigeya Akalewold / Ella Fremstad, Roosevelt 14-1
9. Caitlin / Reese, Edina2 6-0
10. Kelly Yang / Lydia Vang, Harding2 12-1
11. Lwe Paw / Way Ber Paw, Humboldt 6-7
12. Alexa Bernardy / Ashtyn Bernardy, Eden Prairie 6-4
13. Abby Putz / Julia Yang, Highland2 10-4
14. Marina Chang / Cathy Hang, Central 2-9
15. Tenzin Kalsang / Tharuni Chilkuri, Wayzata 6-2
16. Nally See / Persephone Yang, Como Park2 6-7