EDINA 6, KENNEDY 1
Outside, it was a bone chilling 19 degrees Fahrenheit at first serve. Luckily badminton, one of the few indoor sports in Minnesota spring, can continue play unimpeded. This was only the second match of the week and both were hosted by Edina. The rest of the state was on vacation. Kennedy’s last match came 15 days ago, so the Eagles were getting back into the swing. Edina had a match on Wednesday. The #9 Hornets used that recent experience to bump off #11 Kennedy 6-1. The only Kennedy win, and coincidentally the only match that went three sets, came at second singles. Yan Mei Yuan rallied from a one set deficit to knock off Talia Bjelland. The most contested matches came at singles. The only two set matches were at singles with the Hornets taking all of three. The second set at third singles won by Johanna Engstrom was the only set to go extra points. The closest match came at fourth singles won by Edina’s Charlotte Everist with a margin of 2.5. Edina’s Abby Dzandzara and Katie Mendel, who moved from third doubles to second doubles had the widest victory margin on the day at with 14.0.
SINGLES
1. Mia Coma, E def Vichheka Chy 21-17, 21-16
2. Yan Mei Yuan, K def Talia Bjelland 11-21, 21-15, 21-16
3. Johanna Engstrom, E def Anh Nguyen 21-10, 22-20
4. Charlotte Everist, E def Kim Nguyen 21-19, 21-18
DOUBLES
1. Arden Ruehl/Lindsay Lundberg, E def Yan Ling Yuan/Tran Nguyen 21-16, 21-17
2. Abby Dzandzara/Katie Mendel, E def Sawanthane Sovangchanita/Sovathay Uy 21-6, 21-8
3. Uma Bhati/Olivia LaLuzerne, E def Queenie Tran/Annabelle Benitz 21-7, 21-14
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Edina 3-1 .750
Games: Edina 7-2 .778
points: Edina 179-157 .533
decided by 10+: Edina 1-0 1.000
decided by 3-: Edina 3-0 1.000
margin: Edina 2.444
DOUBLES
Matches: Edina 3-0 1.000
Games: Edina 6-0 1.000
points: Edina 126-68 .649
decided by 10+: Edina 3-0 1.000
decided by 3-: none
margin: Edina 9.667
FIRST SINGLES
Mia COMA 2, Vichheka CHY 0
(21-17, 21-16)
#9 Mia Coma knocked of Vichheka Chy in two sets with a margin of 4.5 points. The key stat today appeared to be errors. Chy had six more than Coma. Six birds went wide for Chy. Coma had zero wide.
The path to victory today varied. Chy got the early jump in the first set with the first three points and maintained the lead up to 10-8. Coma used two runs of four in an 8-1 burst to forge ahead 16-11. The first four points were helped by three Chy hitting errors. The next run of four featured three Coma winners. Chy had one more run of three immediately thereafter to close the margin to 16-14. The soft drive return on a serve stopped the run. In the ensuing points, Coma scored off of Chy’s serve four times on two strokes. The exception was an eleven stroke smash at point 19. Chy had to labor for her points with a a twelve stroke drive on point 15 the longest.
In set two Coma got off to the quick start with a run of five propelling her to 7-1 lead. Coma increased that margin to eight (17-9) after a run of four capped by an ace in the right back corner. Chy actually outscored Coma at that point 7-4, but could not generate a point on her last two serves.
Both players found success on the right side of the court often. Coma’s soft drives in the right front corner provided seven points in the first set, but withered to one in the second. She shifted her winners to the back line in the second set with six. Chy made use of the middle right sideline for six of her points, five of which came in the second set. Chy, led the single category winners with nine drives.
This was the first time since the state tournament in 2016 that a number one singles player lost a match for Kennedy. Last year’s state champion Chusang Nhasang finished undefeated.
| Category | COMA | CHY |
| Side out | 8/18-.444 | 6/18-.333 |
| 3+ Runs | 5 | 5 |
| Longest point string | 5 | 3 |
| Service points | 24 | 15 |
| Serving % | 41/42-.976 | 32/33-.970 |
| Point generated off serve | 24/42-.571 | 15/33-.455 |
| Overall points | 42 | 33 |
| Points after 11 | 20 | 19 |
| Points after own errors | 6 | 7 |
| Strokes | 166 | 141 |
| Strokes per point | 3.952 | 4.273 |
| 5+ rallies | 11/42-.262 | 11/33-.333 |
| 2- rallies | 15/42-.357 | 11/33-.333 |
| WINNERS | 25/42-.595 | 22/33-.667 |
| Aces | 2 | 0 |
| Blocks | 0 | 0 |
| Clears | 6 | 3 |
| Drives | 5 | 9 |
| Drops | 2 | 1 |
| Soft drives | 8 | 3 |
| Smashes | 2 | 5 |
| ERRORS | 11/33-.333 | 17/42-.405 |
| Deep | 2 | 2 |
| Net | 8 | 8 |
| Wide | 0 | 6 |
| Serve | 1 | 1 |
| WINNER LOCATION | ||
| Back line | 8/25-.320 | 6/22-.273 |
| Middle | 8/25-.320 | 13/22-.591 |
| Front line | 9/25-.360 | 3/22-.136 |
| Left | 7/25-.280 | 8/22-.364 |
| Right | 18/25-.720 | 14/22-.636 |
| W:E Ratio | 2.273 | 1.294 |
| Margin | 4.50 | |
| Set Point % | 2/4-.500 | |
| Time | 17:12.04 |