HMONG ACADEMY 7, MATH & SCIENCE 0

Hmong Academy, the “Road Warriors,” (they don’t have a home match this year) went to Math & Science and caged the Dragons on a sweep with an asterisk. That asterisk would show that the contest was much closer than a sweep would indicate. Four of the matches went to three sets. After round one of play the Dragons were in front of the Warriors 4-3. All the extra sets were rally wins for the Warriors. Another indication of how close things were came with the tight contests. There were eight sets of the 17 total that were decided by two points (47% of the match totals). 21-19 decided three of the four three set matches. A flip of six points would have made the final 4-3 still in favor of Hmong Academy. There was an injury withdrawal in the second doubles match. HA’s Emily and Hailey Yang took the first set and were awarded the win when M&S’s Tomiwa Lee and Emily Wong couldn’t continue.

The start time on this match was 5 pm, which is relatively late for the badminton scene.

Both coaching staffs are new. Former Johnson player Coua Lee is at HA. Tara Richert is the new coach at M&S.

Now all 24 teams have had a match charted. From here on out it will be what fits in my schedule with the emphasis on the best first singles match available.

Déjà vu anyone? I was just at M&S on Monday charting the boys volleyball with Hmong Academy one of the other teams.

SINGLES
1. Neng Thao, HA def Keagan Eng 19-21, 21-10, 21-14
2. Amy Vang, HA def Megan Dalldorf 17-21, 23-21, 21-19
3. Pazong Yang, HA def Ashley Kim 19-21, 21-15, 21-19
4. Pangyia Vang, HA def Oiaswini Thodupunoori 21-10, 21-8

DOUBLES
1. Helena Vang/Sun Xiong, HA def Gabrielle Jensen/Daria Fleischhaker 22-20, 21-16
2. Emily Yang/Hailey Yang, HA def Tomiwa Lee/Emily Wong 21-13, injury
3. Shylene Lee/Eh Paw Hkit, HA def Cindy Leewood/Ava Farrell 19-21, 21-16, 21-19

BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Hmong Academy 4-0 1.000
Games: Hmong Academy 7-3 .700
points: Hmong Academy 204-160 .560
decided by 10+: Hmong Academy 3-0 1.000
decided by 3-: tied 2-2 .500
margin: Hmong Academy 4.40
DOUBLES
Matches: Hmong Academy 3-0 1.000
Games: Hmong Academy 5-1 .857
points: Hmong Academy 125-105 .543
decided by 10+: none
decided by 3-: Hmong Academy 2-1 .667
margin: Hmong Academy 3.33

FIRST SINGLES

Neng THAO 2, Keagan ENG 0
(19-21, 21-10, 21-14)

HA’s Neng Thao bounced back from a setback in set one to capture the win at first singles for the Warriors. These two had contrasting styles of play with Thao with a more aggressive swing and attack, while Eng, with her long reach, played a more defensive game. Thao’s shots had the signature badminton pop on contact with the strings. Eng withstood several of these attacks which either prolonged the rally or led to a hitting error by Thao. The stat differences bear this out. Thao won the side out battle plus generated more service points. Thao almost doubled up Eng on winners. The favored shot for both was the clear. Thao targeted the left back corner for 12 of her winners. It should be pointed out that this match featured many long rallies. Both players each had 31% of their points coming on five strokes or more.

The first set was pointed to Thao with a 14-10 lead. By that stage she had connected on six clears. Eng roared back and seized momentum with seven straight points initiated by an eight stroke soft drive. Thao was forced to play catch up, but Eng’s side out game met the challenge with three out of the next four services ending as side outs.

Thao quickly got off to a 6-1 start in the second set. Eng worked her way back in the contest, but Thao closed out with two runs sandwiched around one side out (8-1). Eng had the first run of the final set. Thao ran off four straight to lead 9-5. Eng responded right away with a run of four of her own, all by way of Thao hitting errors. Thao snapped out of it with a run of three (13-10) with the clear again connecting. A run of five all but put the game out of reach (19-12).

Category	THAO	ENG
Side out	17/26-.654	11/28-.393
3+ Runs	8	5
Longest point string	5	7
Service points	35	19
Serving %	60/61-.984	45/45-1.000
Point generated off serve	.574	.422
Overall points	61	45
Points after 11	28	22
Points after own errors	14	10
Strokes	249	190
Strokes per point	4.082	4.222
5+ rallies	19(.311)	14(.311)
2- rallies	12(.197)	11(.244)
WINNERS	38	21
Aces	0	0
Blocks	1(.026)	1(.048)
Clears	16(.421)	8(.381)
Drives	6(.158)	5(.238)
Drops	2(.053)	0
Soft drives	7(.184)	6(.286)
Smashes	6(.158)	2(.095)
ERRORS	24	23
Deep	2(.083)	1(.043)
Net	10(.417)	13(.565)
Wide	11(.458)	9(.391)
Serve	1(.042)	0
WINNER LOCATION
Back line	21(.553)	9(.429)
Middle	7(.184)	4(.190)
Front line	10(.263)	8(.381)
Left	24(.706)	11(.524)
Right	14(.368)	10(.476)
W:E Ratio	1.583	0.913
Margin	5.333
Set Point %	2/2-1.000	½-.500
Time	24:33.59