Both number one seeds topped the charts in day two of the St. Paul City tournament—the final four sequence. In singles #1 seed (and #1 ranked) Gao Zhia Vue became the third Harding Knight to win a singles crown since 2001. The last was her sister Panyia in 2014 (Pang Thao won in 2006 & 2007). She topped Johnson\u2019s Amanda Her for the second time this year reversing the second meeting two set loss at Johnson. Get ready for two more possible meetings: once in the team portion of state, and then in the individual tournament next Thursday. Vue beat Highland Park\u2019s Nica Johnson in two sets in the semifinals. Her beat teammate Kelly Sheen, who is at third position in the Governors order.<\/p>\n
The #1 doubles seed Gaonou Vang and Angelina Thao of Johnson are the tenth Governor pair to take the crown. This is most doubles titles of any school in the SPC tournament. They defeated the Harding first doubles pair of Gray Mo and Cindy Yang. Oddly enough this was the first time these four met. Vang and Thao have only been paired since April 14 when they lost to Edina\u2019s Daisy Hennington-Hoff and Ella Burke, #1 ranked all year and undefeated. Vang and Thao beat another Harding pair (Kelly Yang \/ Lydia Vang) to get to the championship match. The Knights Mo & Yang also beat a Governor pair (Shalisha Vang and Krystal Moua) to reach the match.<\/p>\n
Are these victories a foretaste of things to come? Vue most certainly will be the number one seed in the individual portion of the state tournament to be held next Thursday. The SPC Champ has won state 14 times sincw 2001, including the past three years.<\/p>\n
With doubles it is a bit more complicated.<\/p>\n
13 previous doubles winners doubled up and went on to win state, the last coming in 2023 with Alexis Xiong and Birdy Xiong of Johnson.<\/p>\n
CHAMPIONSHIP<\/strong><\/p>\n Gao Zhia VUE 2, Amanda HER 1 You see the question mark on 20-18 in the third set. It would be 21 but I was told when a bird hit banner or wall above the court was a replay. Moving on\u2026<\/p>\n This third encounter between top rivals featured dynamic rallies and unexpected turns. \u00a0Add spills. Amanda Her rallied from three down in the first set to get the victory there. She had two big runs on service seven that turned a 10-7 deficit to a 13-10 lead. It was the final run that was an exclamation point. She broke a 16-all tie by scoring the final five points of the set. \u00a0In that set Her squeezed the drop for five winners.<\/p>\n That finish didn\u2019t faze Vue. She opened with the first three points of the set and gradually built a 13-8 lead after her fifth service which included a five-point run, all winners. Her clawed back to 15-13 after a run of three, but Vue responded with a run of three to go up 18-13. Then another Her run of five tightened up the tension capped by a seven-stroke smash to tie it at 18. A four stroke drop that found the net instead of the other side of the court put Vue back on top. Her tied it again with a four-stroke smash. Vue mirrored that and then forced Her to hit wide on a two-stroke clear attempt to even the series.<\/p>\n That set up the final set. Her opened with an ace, but Her quickly took over with the first run and led 3-1. She added a second on her fourth service for a 9-5 lead. On the switch over at eleven Her led 11-7, or was it 11-8, I believed it was a redo and scored it as such, but maybe it was declared a point for Vue. Vue tied the set at 13 with her first run of the set on her eighth service. Vue\u2019s second run gave her an edge at 17-16. Her\u2019s last two services were terminated without a point, one on a two stroke clear and then the game winner a five stroke wide hitting error.<\/p>\n One thing that has been noticeable is the time Vue took spills in the match. Having watched a few other series I started tracking that. At least seven times Vue hit the deck. Those points ended up in Her\u2019s column.<\/p>\n Vue did win important categories like side out (.594 to .484), and winners (37-30). She led errors, 28 to 20. \u00a0Vue topped Her in clears 8-5 but her soft drive was lethal at 7-1. Her won on drops 9-3 and had a slight edge in smashes 11-10.<\/p>\n Now Vue and Her await the team tournament. They could meet in the semis next Wednesday. Harding is the #2 seeded team; Johnson is #3. Vue will be the #1 seed in singles. Her will be on the opposite side, so the meeting may take place in the title match provided neither is ambushed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Both number one seeds topped the charts in day two of the St. Paul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8CdKT-5MU","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kjasr.com\/live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22252"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kjasr.com\/live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kjasr.com\/live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kjasr.com\/live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kjasr.com\/live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/kjasr.com\/live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22253,"href":"http:\/\/kjasr.com\/live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22252\/revisions\/22253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kjasr.com\/live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kjasr.com\/live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kjasr.com\/live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>(reported 16-21, 21-19, 21-18, recorded 16-21, 21-19, 20-18? )<\/p>\n\n\n
\n Category<\/strong><\/td>\n VUE<\/strong><\/td>\n HER<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Side out<\/td>\n 19\/32-.594<\/td>\n 15\/31-.484<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Longest side out string<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3+ Runs<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n 9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Longest point string<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n SERVING<\/strong><\/td>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n First serve<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n 1, 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n First point<\/td>\n 1, 2, 3<\/td>\n —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Service points<\/td>\n 26<\/td>\n 28<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Serving %<\/td>\n 51\/56-.911<\/td>\n 57\/59-.966<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Point generated off serve<\/td>\n .464<\/td>\n .475<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n POINTS<\/strong><\/td>\n 57<\/strong><\/td>\n 58<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Points after 11<\/td>\n 29<\/td>\n 28<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Points after own errors<\/td>\n 10<\/td>\n 10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Winners after own errors<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n STROKES<\/strong><\/td>\n 224<\/strong><\/td>\n 250<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Strokes per point<\/td>\n 3.930<\/td>\n 4.310<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 5+ rallies (%)<\/td>\n 20<\/td>\n 23<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2- rallies (%)<\/td>\n 14<\/td>\n 17<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n WINNERS<\/strong><\/td>\n 37<\/strong><\/td>\n 30<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Aces<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Blocks<\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Clears<\/td>\n 7<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Drives<\/td>\n 8<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Drops<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n 9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Soft drives<\/td>\n 7<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Smashes<\/td>\n 10<\/td>\n 11<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Even Stroke Winners<\/td>\n 17<\/td>\n 16<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2nd<\/sup> Stroke Winners<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Odd Stroke Winners<\/td>\n 20<\/td>\n 14<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n ERRORS<\/strong><\/td>\n 28<\/strong><\/td>\n 20<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Deep<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Net<\/td>\n 12<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Wide<\/td>\n 8<\/td>\n 12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Serve<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Even stroke errors<\/td>\n 15<\/td>\n 9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2nd<\/sup> stroke errors<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Odd stroke errors<\/td>\n 13<\/td>\n 11<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n WINNER LOCATION<\/strong><\/td>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Left<\/td>\n 16<\/td>\n 8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Right<\/td>\n 21<\/td>\n 22<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Largest Lead<\/td>\n 3, 5, 2<\/td>\n 5, 0, 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n W:E Ratio<\/td>\n 1.321<\/td>\n 1.500<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Margin<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 0.333<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Set Point %<\/td>\n 2\/3-.667<\/td>\n 1\/1-1.000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Time<\/td>\n 36:00<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n