EDEN PRAIRIE 5, COMO PARK 2
Eden Prairie opened their 2023 campaign with a 5-2 victory over visiting Como Park in a tight contest. But the match was much, much tighter than the final score indicated. This was a white knuckle ride that had the fans in suspense. Four matches, including every doubles match, went to three sets. Nine sets were decided by three points or less. Five sets went to extra points. A flip of four points would have given the Cougars a 4-3 victory. Only one set was decided by the blowout category of ten or more—and that came at first doubles in the final set. Prior to that there were two extra point sets. At singles the biggest gap was only six in the second set at first singles. For the day singles was decided by an average of 1.333 points per set. Doubles was at a more comfortable 2.0.
The match went over twenty minutes for the two sets showcasing the sweat equity put forth by both players.
SINGLES
1. Sani Deshmukh, EP def Xee Lee 23-21, 21-15
2. Ishani Nandan, EP def Betty Habble 21-19, 19-21, 22-20
3. Ta’Liyah McNeil, CP def Rhea Yenubari 22-20, 21-17
4. Aishwarya Balakrishna, EP def Hehblut Paw 21-17, 21-17
DOUBLES
1. Olivia Ladegaard / Elena Lissick, EP def Niko Solheid / Kaya Solheid 23-21, 20-22, 21-3
2. Maya Varikuti / Weiwei Chen, EP def Lisa Truong / Michelle Vang 21-15, 18-21, 21-17
3. Daychia Her / Tha Blay Htoo, CP def Rylee Brazil / Delaney Smith 21-15, 18-21, 21-17
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Eden Prairie 3-1 .750
Games: Eden Prairie 6-3 .667
points: Eden Prairie 185-173 .517
Set 1 points: Eden Prairie 85-79 .518
Set 2 points: Eden Prairie 78-74 .513
Set 3 points: Eden Prairie 22-20 .523
decided by 10+: none
decided by 3-: Eden Prairie 3-2 .600
margin: Eden Prairie 1.333
DOUBLES
Matches: Eden Prairie 2-1 .667
Games: Eden Prairie 5-4 .556
points: Eden Prairie 177-159 .527
Set 1 points: Eden Prairie 59-57 .509
Set 2 points: Como Park 61-59 .508
Set 3 points: Eden Prairie 59-41 .590
decided by 10+: Eden Prairie 1-0
decided by 3-: split 2-2 .500
margin: Eden Prairie 2.00
FIRST SINGLES
SANI DESHMUKH 2, XEE LEE 0 (23-21, 21-15)
This match mirrored the entire match showcasing two players battling on narrow margins. Sani Deshmukh of Eden Prairie squeezed out the victory on the strength of her power game. She racked up 13 smashes on her way to 26 winners. She also held off set point twice in the first set to prevail 23-21. That erased a strong performance in the side out game by Como’s Xee Lee. She won that battle 65% to 60%. The problem for Lee was she could only generate one run in the entire match as Deshmukh kept Lee moving, stretching the floor while maintaining control of the center.
Lee opened the match with the first two points, ironically that would be her biggest lead of the day. Deshmukh, after a four stroke smash, scored the next three points to pull in front 5-3. Deshmukh had three runs, the last adding four points for a 15-11 lead before Lee had her first, and what turned out to be her only run of the match. That closed the gap to 15-14. A five stroke clear put Lee up 19-18. She had an opportunity at 20-19, but Deshmukh used a four stroke smash to stay alive. The next set opportunity for Lee also was stopped by a smash, but this time on the second stroke. That tied the set at 21. A drive that went wide on the second stroke followed by a three stroke drop capped the rally for Deshmukh.
It was back and forth in the second set. Lee led 10-9 after an 11 stroke cross court drop. Again the second stroke smash opened the door for Deshmukh with the biggest run of the day, and her only run in the second set—six points to put her up 15-10. Without Lee able to generate a run in the second set, the road was uphill. The final point of the day ended up to be a five stroke smash—-or punch would be a better term. Oddly enough Lee had more winners in this set 10-9, but Deshmukh cut her errors down by more than half. She totaled 11 in the first set and sliced that total to five in the second.
I added a new stat category today—-even point/odd point based on strokes. Even strokes happen when the player is on the receiving end. Odd strokes happen when the player is serving. Deshmukh won the evens 18-9 to Lee’s 16-10. The odd strokes were smaller with Deshmukh winning 8-7, Lee losing 4-8. This will require more matches to see if there is a trend. It is hard to gage if what we saw today is true all the time. In addition to that I subdivided winners on the second stroke—this indicates that the initial serve probably was not challenging enough. Strangely Lee had the advantage here 8-5.
| Category | DESHMUKH | LEE |
| Side out | 15/25-.600 | 17/26-.654 |
| Longest side out string | 8 | 5 |
| 3+ Runs | 4 | 1 |
| Longest point string | 6 | 3 |
| SERVING | ||
| Service points | 19 | 12 |
| Serving % | 41/43-.953 | 35/37-.945 |
| Point generated off serve | .432 | .333 |
| POINTS | 44 | 36 |
| Points after 11 | 22 | 16 |
| Points after own errors | 11 | 10 |
| STROKES | 191 | 139 |
| Strokes per point | 4.341 | 3.861 |
| 5+ rallies | 16 | 9 |
| 2- rallies | 14 | 16 |
| WINNERS | 26 | 20 |
| Aces | 0 | 0 |
| Blocks | 2 | 0 |
| Clears | 0 | 4 |
| Drives | 2 | 5 |
| Drops | 6 | 2 |
| Soft drives | 3 | 4 |
| Smashes | 13 | 5 |
| Even stroke winners | 18 | 16 |
| Second stroke winners | 5 | 8 |
| Odd stroke winners | 8 | 4 |
| ERRORS | 16 | 18 |
| Deep | 0 | 1 |
| Net | 9 | 9 |
| Wide | 5 | 6 |
| Serve | 2 | 2 |
| Even stroke errors | 9 | 10 |
| Odd stroke errors | 7 | 8 |
| Largest Lead | 6 | 2 |
| W:E Ratio | 1.625 | 1.111 |
| Margin | 4.00 | |
| Set Point % | 2/2-1.000 | 0/2-.000 |
| Time | 20:10 |