JOHNSON 6, COMO PARK 1
The Johnson Governors laid down the law to Como Park on Thursday in a 6-1 victory on senior night. The only Cougar victorious today was second singles Tsuki Solheid who has not lost yet this year, the last unbeaten singles player in the state. All matches were decided in two sets. Two of the fourteen sets were considered close with Kelly Sheen’s 21-19 win in the second set at third singles the closest set of the day. Sheen also moved up to third from fourth singles. The Govs doubles had larger margins holding CP to single digits in three sets.
Johnson is now 11-1 to complete the city conference. They tied with Harding for the title, but the Knights will represent St. Paul in the Twin City match to be held at Roosevelt on Monday. Overall Johnson is 13-2. CP’s conference mark ended up at 7-5. Overall the Cougars are 9-7.
SINGLES
1 Amanda Her, J def Niko Solheid 21-12, 21-13
2 Tsuki Solheid, CP def Amelia Her 21-15, 21-7
3 Kelly Sheen, J def La Ku Shine 21-16, 21-19
4 Kang Nang Thao, J def Sada 21-14, 21-14
DOUBLES
1 Gaonou / Angelina, J def Asta / Lana 21-15, 21-18
2 Krystal / Shalisha, J def Nally / Persephone 21-9, 21-7
3 Cammie / Aliya, J def Emma / Churea 21-9, 21-11
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Johnson 3-1 .750
Games: Johnson 6-2 .750
points: Johnson 148-130 .532
Set 1 points: Johnson 78-63 .553
Set 2 points: Johnson 70-67 .511
decided by 10+: Como Park 1-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Johnson 1-0 1.000
margin: Johnson 2.250
DOUBLES
Matches: Johnson 3-0 1.000
Games: Johnson 6-0 1.000
points: Johnson 126-69 .646
Set 1 points: Johnson 63-33 .656
Set 2 points: Johnson 63-36 .636
decided by 10+: Johnson 4-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Johnson 1-0 1.000
margin: Johnson 9.500
FIRST SINGLES
Amanda HER 2, Niko SOLHEID 0
(reported 21-12, 21-13; recorded 21-12, 20-13)
At the top singles match, both competitors have held the number one ranking at some point this season. Both players lost on Tuesday. Solheid fell in three to Harding’s Gao Zhia Vue. Her was upended by Highland Park’s Nica Johnson in two. It was Her that rebounded with a convincing two set win over Solheid. As has been the case of late, scoring on serve and preventing your opponent from scoring on serve were critical in this match. Her scored 16 more service points and only held Solheid to eight points, or four per set. It was the lack of errors for Her that stood out. She only had nine for the match, and advantage of 12 total points. She did not have an error on a two stroke. That also helped explain Her’s ability to hold Solheid to only three runs, with zero in the first set.
This match also had some long rallies. That led to an average of over four strokes per point. Yes it is true that quick points (two strokes or less) were more frequent at 24-20, but eight of those 20 long strokes took nine strokes or more. In those cases Her won 7-1.
Solheid opened with the first two points with Her missing her initial serve. That would not be a trend. Her did get the first run of the match on her fourth service. It was good for five points with the clear scoring three times. That made the score 8-4. Both players went into side out mode with each trading the bird seven times. Solheid narrowed the gap to 11-9. But the inability to generate points off the serve left her in catch up mode the rest of the set. She only cashed in twice off her serve in the opening set. Her got her second run on her tenth service and it was good for six to take her to the brink at 20-11. But in that run Solheid errors provided Her with four points.
That momentum carried over into the second set with Her immediately getting a run starting with two straight nine stroke drives that were hugging the right sideline. On her second service she again had a run. This time five point to build an 8-3 lead. Solheid closed the gap to 12-9, but two straight smashes got Her back on track. Her’s seventh, and last service gave was the final run and carried her to a reported 20-11 mark. A 14 stroke drop, the longest point of the match, got Solheid the bird back. Solheid then scored on a wide hit, but the match ended on a missed serve, completing the circle.
#3 Her is now 12-3 on the year. #1 Solheid is 13-4. The two may have a few more matches against each other. The St. Paul City tournament awaits next Wednesday and Thursday at Washington.
| Category | HER | SOLHEID |
| Side out | 11/17-.647 | 8/17-.471 |
| Longest side out string | 6 | 3 |
| 3+ Runs | 6 | 2 |
| Longest point string | 6 | 3 |
| SERVING | ||
| First serve | 1, 2 | — |
| First point | 2 | 1 |
| Service points | 24 | 8 |
| Serving % | 39/41-.951 | 20/25-.800 |
| Point generated off serve | .585 | .320 |
| POINTS | 41 | 25 |
| Points after 11 | 20 | 13 |
| Points after own errors | 5 | 9 |
| Winners after own errors | 2 | 7 |
| STROKES | 171 | 101 |
| Strokes per point | 4.171 | 4.04 |
| 5+ rallies (%) | 12 | 8 |
| 2- rallies (%) | 17 | 7 |
| WINNERS | 20 | 16 |
| Aces | 1 | 0 |
| Blocks | 0 | 1 |
| Clears | 6 | 3 |
| Drives | 2 | 1 |
| Drops | 3 | 1 |
| Soft drives | 3 | 6 |
| Smashes | 5 | 4 |
| Even Stroke Winners | 8 | 12 |
| 2nd Stroke Winners | 4 | 5 |
| Odd Stroke Winners | 12 | 4 |
| ERRORS | 9 | 21 |
| Deep | 0 | 4 |
| Net | 3 | 7 |
| Wide | 4 | 5 |
| Serve | 2 | 5 |
| Even stroke errors | 4 | 12 |
| 2nd stroke errors | 0 | 7 |
| Odd stroke errors | 5 | 9 |
| WINNER LOCATION | ||
| Left | 5 | 9 |
| Right | 15 | 7 |
| Largest Lead | 9, 8 | 2, 0 |
| W:E Ratio | 2.222 | 0.762 |
| Margin | 8.000 | |
| Set Point % | 2/5-.400 | |
| Time | 16:18.72 |