Johnson’s Gaonou Vang & Angelina Thao, the second seed, narrowly lost twice duringthe year to Edina’s Daisy Hennington-Hoff and Ella Burke including the team finals on Wednesday. Both losses were three setters. They rectified that score with an emphatic victory in the doubles finals and in the process halted the undefeated 23 game winning streak of the number one Hornet pair. It also stopped a two year run of Edina doubles championships.
This match was never close. Twice Angelina Thao started the set with solid runs of five and seven putting the pressure on the Edina duo. The closest Edina would get would be in the first set trailing 9-6. Edina would not get to their sixth point in the second set until they were trailing 17-5.
Of the ten service attempts throughout the match the Johnson pair only failed to score twice. Not only that but the Govs delivered six runs on the day holding Edina to two. The Governors were able to get the side out half the time over the Edina team. That service game produced 31 points for Johnson while Edina struggle with nine. Winners also pointed to Johnson with a 19-12 advantage. Gaonou Vang had a stellar winner to error ratio of 6.5 thanks to 13 winners with the smash reaching double digits with ten. Vang alone had more winners than the Edina team. The errors piled up and multiplied for Edina 23-7. Nowhere was that more evident than on the two stroke (or less). Johnson shut out Edina 10-0 in that critical category showcasing their serves were hard to handle. Johnson also controlled the long game with an overwhelming advantage on mega stroke points (ten strokes or more) 7-1. The longest rally came in the first set with Angelina Thao at the service line for what would be their eleventh point. A 28 stroke marathon led to a Governor point on Thao’s smash to the left side of Ella Burke.
Johnson put the bird in better position so that Edina was forced into a defensive battle. The Hornets gave the Governors more opportunities for big swings by putting the bird in the upper right position. That score was 69-43.
Vang & Thao finished the year 20-2 and in the process added to Johnson’s doubles collection for the eighth time, the last coming in 2023.
Hennington-Hoff & Burke ended the season at 23-1.
Sorry this is late. I used video on both the championship matches and had to break down the tape to pull the stats.
Next up will be the singles final (I believe today / Tuesday) and then a recap of the season on Sunday.
| Category | VANG | THAO | HENNINGTON-HOFF | BURKE |
| Side out when receiving | 4/10-.400 | 5/8-.625 | 7/23-.304 | 3/19-.158 |
| 3+ Runs | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Longest point string | 6 | 7 | 3 | 1 |
| SERVING | ||||
| First serve | — | 1, 2 | — | — |
| Scoring on service | 4/5-.800 | 4/5-.800 | 3/5-.600 | 2/5-.400 |
| Service points | 16 | 15 | 7 | 2 |
| Serving % | 21/21-1.000 | 21/21-1.000 | 11/12-.917 | 7/7-1.000 |
| Pt generated off serve | .381 | .357 | .368 | .105 |
| STROKES | 101 | 83 | 93 | 88 |
| WINNERS | 13 | 6 | 7 | 5 |
| Aces | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Blocks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clears | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Drives | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Drops | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Soft drives | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Smashes | 10 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2nd Stroke Winners | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SET UP POINTS | 9 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
| ERRORS | 2 | 5 | 9 | 14 |
| Deep | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Net | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| Wide | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Serve | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2nd stroke errors | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| WINNER LOCATION | ||||
| Left | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Right | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| W:E Ratio | 6.500 | 1.200 | 0.778 | 0.357 |
| TEAM | JOHNSON | EDINA | ||
| POINTS | 42 | 19 | ||
| Points after 11 | 20 | 8 | ||
| First points | 1, 2 | — | ||
| Longest side out string | 2 | 1 | ||
| Strokes | 269 | 99 | ||
| Strokes per point | 6.405 | 5.211 | ||
| 10+ rallies | 7 | 1 | ||
| 5+ rallies | 22 | 10 | ||
| 2- rallies | 10 | 0 | ||
| Largest Lead | 13, 13 | NONE | ||
| Margin | 11.50 | |||
| Set Point % | 2/7-.286 | |||
| Time | 18:07 |