MATH & SCIENCE 4, EDEN PRAIRIE 3
The #9 Dragons went on the road and topped #6 Eden Prairie with drama at the end. The match was tied 3 all with third doubles in the balance and all eyes were zeroed in on it. In that match the M&S pair of Grishma Maddela and Shrestha Vuppu secured the key victory in a three set win over Inaya Khirid and Aniya Mehta. All three of those sets were decided by the slim margin of two points each time. The EP pair went extra points in the first set for their win. There were four total three set matches indicating how tight the contest was. M&S won in three at first singles, second and third doubles. Just a flip of two would have tipped the scales to EP 4-3. A flip of five would have made it 5-2 and eight points 6-1. Eight total sets were decided by three points or less.
A quirk in the stats? EP outpointed M&S in both singles and doubles. The margins were razor thin in singles with the Eagles holding a 0.800 advantage. In doubles there was more room to spare 15 1.25. But that was to no avail as M&S had more match wins.
This match was interesting also because at first doubles a pair of sisters faced each other. The Bernardy sisters of EP knocked off the Tatikonda sisters in two sets.
The Dragons are now 11-5 on the year. They travel to Johnson tomorrow. The Eagles are 7-5 and will be looking to break their losing streak with a trip to Wayzata.
SINGLES
1 Emily Balandin, M&S def Vivian Nguyen 21-17, 17-21, 21-16
2 Vikki Burdette, EP def Vivian Jayanth 21-16, 21-14
3 Sahasra Thodupunoori, M&S def Mahi Patal 21-19, 21-14
4 Monisha Chhabra, EP def Chaarvi Kesharwani 17-21, 21-18, 21-10
DOUBLES
1 Alexa Bernardy / Ashtyn Bernardy, EP def Sanjana Tatikonda/ Sathvika Tatikonda 21-19, 21-15
2 Aadhya Patel / Mihira Kanukurthy, M&S def Akshaya Balamurali / Joshnasree Jeevarathinam 12-21, 21-19, 21-18
3 Grishma Maddela / Shrestha Vuppu, M&S def Inaya Khirid / Aniya Mehta 21-23, 21-19, 21-19
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: tied 2-2 .500
Games: tied 5-5 .500
points: Eden Prairie 188-180 .511
Set 1 points: Math & Science 79-74 .516
Set 2 points: Eden Prairie 77-70
Set 3 points: Eden Prairie 37-31 .544
decided by 10+: Eden Prairie 1-0 1.000
decided by 3-: tied 1-1 .500
margin: Eden Prairie 0.800
DOUBLES
Matches: Math & Science 2-1 .667
Games: tied 4-4 1.000
points: Eden Prairie 161-151 .517
Set 1 points: Eden Prairie 65-52 .556
Set 2 points: Eden Prairie 59-57 .509
Set 3 points: Math & Science 42-37 .532
decided by 10+: none
decided by 3-: Math & Science 4-2 .667
margin: Eden Prairie 1.250
FIRST SINGLES
Emily BALANDIN 2, Vivian NGUYEN 1
(reported 21-17, 17-21, 21-16; recorded 21-17, 18-22, 21-15)
#12 Emily Balandin of Math & Science capped last week with a dramatic take down of then #1 Evelyn Ge of Edina. She continued her current momentum with a victory, again on the road. This time it was #9 Vivian Nguyen of Eden Prairie going down in three. Balandin was not ranked until last week’s poll. That usually happens when you beat the #1 player on their court.
In all three sets the eventual winner of that set trailed after the 11 point at some point. Nguyen led 12-9 in the first. A six point burst by Balandin put her in the lead 15-12. She closed out the first set with the final three points.
That finish helped propel her to the first run in the second set on her second service (3-1). She added two more before Nguyen notched her first run. Balandin led 14-7 before Nguyen mounted her comeback. She scored her first run on her seventh service which cut the margin to 14-11. Nguyen inched ahead after a five point run which included the longest rally of the day, a 13 stroke drive. While Nguyen’s racquet got hot, Balandin’s turned silent. Nguyen’s side-out play kept the Dragon from scoring for four consecutive possessions. Nguyen tied the contest with a three-stroke smash to finish in her third run.
The third set saw five lead changes in all, three before the 11 break. Balandin scored the first run on her first service with her cross-court drop capping a four-point run. Nguyen responded immediately with a three-point run of her own, all winners with a pair of smashes. On Nguyen’s fourth service she regained the lead (she led at 1-0). That was highlighted by two consecutive blocks on the three count (9-8). But it was Balandin with the bird on the turn at 11, again after a cross-court drop, this time two strokes. Nguyen had one last run on her seventh service to lead 14-12. A smash attempt found the net which gave Balandin the bird back. She added four more points before going deep on a serve to stop the momentum. It didn’t stay stopped for long. Balandin got the bird back on a soft drive and then compiled four more winners with the last two drops.
Both players had an equal number of winners in this evenly paired duo. Examining the winners it was Balandin’s short game at the net that was a key component in the win. She had 12 drops, many hugging the opposite sideline in a wicked cross court drop. Following that winner was the clears for nine points. Nguyen relied on the power game with an 8-3 advantage in smashes. She had an even bigger advantage in the soft drive 7-1. She also shined on defense with five blocks that scored points.
Balandin scored more late in the sets with a 40-27 mark after a player reached eleven points.
Balandin is now 10-6 for the year. Nguyen’s mark is now even at six apiece.
| Category | BALANDIN | NGUYEN |
| Side out | 16/30-.533 | 15/30-.500 |
| Longest side out string | 3 | 5 |
| 3+ Runs | 9 | 8 |
| Longest point string | 6 | 5 |
| SERVING | ||
| First serve | 2 | 1, 3 |
| First point | 1 | 2, 3 |
| Service points | 31 | 26 |
| Serving % | 57/60-.950 | 54/55-.982 |
| Point generated off serve | .525 | .481 |
| POINTS | 59 | 54 |
| Points after 11 | 40 | 27 |
| Points after own errors | 9 | 14 |
| Winners after own errors | 4 | 7 |
| STROKES | 230 | 186 |
| Strokes per point | 3.833 | 3.444 |
| 5+ rallies (%) | 17 | 9 |
| 2- rallies (%) | 15 | 15 |
| WINNERS | 34 | 34 |
| Aces | 2 | 2 |
| Blocks | 0 | 5 |
| Clears | 9 | 5 |
| Drives | 7 | 3 |
| Drops | 12 | 4 |
| Soft drives | 1 | 7 |
| Smashes | 3 | 8 |
| Even Stroke Winners | 15 | 13 |
| 2nd Stroke Winners | 4 | 6 |
| Odd Stroke Winners | 19 | 23 |
| ERRORS | 20 | 25 |
| Deep | 6 | 1 |
| Net | 4 | 15 |
| Wide | 7 | 8 |
| Serve | 3 | 1 |
| Even stroke errors | 5 | 11 |
| 2nd stroke errors | 5 | 6 |
| Odd stroke errors | 15 | 14 |
| WINNER LOCATION | ||
| Left | 10 | 15 |
| Right | 24 | 19 |
| Largest Lead | 4, 7, 3 | 4, 4, 2 |
| W:E Ratio | 1.700 | 1.360 |
| Margin | 1.667 | |
| Set Point % | 2/2-1.000 | 1/1-1.000 |
| Time | 25:18.44 |