THE REAR VIEW MIRROR

All 32 teams are now in business. Fridley joined the fray on Tuesday as they traveled to Park Center. The Pirates swept the Tigers. But not all 32 teams were in action last week. St. Paul was the last district to hold spring break.

All in all, I charted matches on all five days and cut down on the unseen with Edison, South and Roosevelt from Minneapolis charted; Burnsville, North St. Paul, and Wayzata from the suburbs and Community of Peace and Prairie Seeds from the Charter schools crossed off my to do list. That brings the total to 27 of the 32 teams or 84.375%. That means I have a grand total of five school left to see: one left in St. Paul (Washington), Minneapolis (North), the Suburbs (Fridley), and two from the charters (Twin City Academy and Hiawatha Collegiate). There are four more weeks left in the regular season.

SMASHING SUCCESS

What goes into winning? Some players have a signature winning shot. A look at key stats.

There are many shots that score as winners in badminton, but the smash is an exclamation point in 72 bold font. It is a dramatic attention grabber—like a kill in volleyball, a home run in baseball or a dunk in basketball. Players with the power game seize advantage anytime an opponent lifts the bird in a clear attempt that doesn’t clear. Payback is swift and generally directed right at the victim. Players that score on the smash, and, probably more importantly, avoid being smashed upon generally win.

Here are the leaders I have charted this year so far with smashes per set:

Name	School	Opponent	Total	Per set
Kpru Paw	Humboldt	Tartan	15	7.50
Mollie Anderson	Roosevelt	Burnsville	12	6.00
Lisa Vickers	Edison	South	11	5.50
Jenny Lee	COPA	Prairie Seeds	11	5.50
Cody Thao	HCPA	Camden	11	5.50

If you notice the highest ranked team is Burnsville at #13. So, the opponents are not on the upper echelon. The figures shift when considering only top-level opponents.

Name	School	Opponent	Total	Per set
Niko Solheid	Como Park	Edina	7	3.50
Amanda Her	Johnson	Harding	6	3.00
Vivian Nguyen	Eden Prairie	Highland Park	8	2.67

These are players that figure to be playing deep in the state tournament. The ceiling dropped two points topping out at 3.5. The closer a player can get to three smashes with quality opponents, the better for their future success.

What about defense (or not allowing a smash)? Who are the leaders there? This is a part of the equation that may be overlooked. There have been ten matches where a player did not register a smash when I was charting. The only player that held an opponent in the top 10 to zero was Nica Johnson of Highland Park (v Central). There were only two smashes that day in that match, the lowest total of the season. Johnson has been charted three times, the most of any player so far this season. In that time, she is 2-1 with her loss to Vivian Nguyen of Eden Prairie. In that match Nguyen had eight smashes. In Johnson’s other two matches against Central and Kennedy she allowed zero. Johnson has 11 smashes scored to 8 for the year or an average of 1.00 more per set.

Here is a look at the quality of the opponent.

Name	School	Opponent	Total	Per set
Vivian Nguyen	Eden Prairie	Highland Park	4	1.33
Amanda Her	Johnson	Harding	4	2.00
Niko Solheid	Como Park	Edina	4	2.00

The smash is just one shot that players have in their arsenal. We will look at other shots in the weeks to come.

MORE FUN WITH NUMBERS

What points to winning more? Scoring the first point of the set? Getting to five first? Or notching the first run? Here we look at the matches I charted at first singles.

Category	W	L	%
Score first	22	12	.647
First to five	29	5	.853
First run	28	6	.824

Getting to five first is a key state 85% of the time. You could leave after that and know the winner. Great players don’t rally to win. They come out and set the standard early and control the action right out of the gate forcing their opponent to play an exhausting game of catch up.

THE ROAD AHEAD

The Hornets 50 game winning streak will be on the line this week. #1 Edina faces a gauntlet of top teams in St. Paul this week. First they host the #2 Johnson Governors on Tuesday. Thursday they are at the Harding Triangular with the #3 Knights and #5 Highland Park. Edina has two wins so far against St. Paul schools this year: a 4-3 mark against Como Park in the opener, and then a sweep over Humboldt. Both of those contests were on the road.

In another key matchup city leaders Johnson and Roosevelt are due to face each other at the home of the Govs on Friday.

UNDEFEATED

Edina dispatched #13 Burnsville and #4 Eden Prairie from the unbeaten list. #26 Washburn lost four times this week after starting the season 2-0. The individuals were whittled away with six total remaining in singles (across first and second) and five in doubles.

Will we have an unbeaten singles champ? Doubtful. Will we have an unbeaten doubles champ? There is a better chance there, but it was waaaaay to early yet in the season. Expect more fall out this week.

TEAMS: 1 Edina

1^st SINGLES: 3 (minimum 2 matches): Isabel Chen, Minnetonka; Jenny Lee, Commuity of Peace; Mollie Anderson, Roosevelt

2^nd SINGLES: 3 (minimum 2 matches): Tsuki Solheid, Como Park; Chelsey, Community of Peace; Sophia Mitchell, Roosevelt

1^ST DOUBLES: (minimum 2 matches) 2: Daisy Hennington-Hoff / Ella Burke, Edina; Abigeya Akalewold / Ella Fremstad, Roosevelt

2^ND DOUBLES: (minimum 2 matches) 3: Joshnasaree Jeevarathinam / Inaya Khirid, Eden Prairie; Caitlin Ashton / Angela, Edina; Kelly Yang / Lydia Vang, Harding

STANDINGS

SAINT PAUL

SCHOOL	CW	CL	TW	TL	SW	SL	DW	DL
Harding	6	1	6	1	19	9	19	2
Johnson	6	1	6	1	18	10	15	6
Como Park	4	3	4	5	24	12	7	20
Humboldt	3	4	4	5	22	14	8	19
Central	2	5	4	5	15	21	9	18
Highland Park	2	4	4	5	13	23	20	7
Washington	1	6	2	6	10	22	7	17

MINNEAPOLIS

SCHOOL	CW	CL	TW	TL	SW	SL	DW	DL
Roosevelt	6	0	8	1	34	2	24	3
Camden	4	0	5	1	18	10	18	3
Edison	4	2	4	2	17	7	12	6
Washburn	2	4	2	4	9	15	4	14
South	1	4	1	4	3	17	4	11
Southwest	1	4	1	5	4	20	3	15
North	0	4	0	5	3	17	2	13

SUBURBAN

SCHOOL	CW	CL	TW	TL	SW	SL	DW	DL
Edina	4	0	6	0	22	2	17	1
North St. Paul	2	0	4	3	18	10	10	11
Eden Prairie	3	1	4	1	14	6	11	4
Park Center	1	1	4	4	17	15	11	13
Tartan	1	1	1	3	1	19	9	3
Burnsville	1	2	2	2	7	9	4	8
Wayzata	1	2	2	2	6	10	5	7
Kennedy	1	4	1	5	7	17	3	15
Minnetonka	0	3	1	4	9	11	6	9
Fridley	0	1	0	1	0	4	0	3

CHARTERS/PRIVATES

SCHOOL	CW	CL	TW	TL	SW	SL	DW	DL
Math & Science	1	0	7	2	21	15	23	4
Eagle Ridge	1	0	1	1	4	4	3	3
Community of Peace	4	1	4	1	18	2	9	6
Hmong CPA	2	2	2	4	12	12	7	11
Prairie Seeds	2	3	2	4	7	17	7	11
Twin City Academy	1	1	1	1	4	4	3	3
Com. School of Excellence	0	2	0	2	0	8	0	6
Hiawatha	0	3	0	4	0	16	2	10

CW conference wins; CL conference losses
TW total wins; TL total losses
SW singles wins; SL singles losses
DW doubles wins; DL doubles losses

TEAM SINGLES WINS

1. Roosevelt 34
2. Como Park 24
3. Edina 22
4. Humboldt 22
5. Math & Science 21

TEAM DOUBLES WINS

1. Roosevelt 24
2. Math & Science 23
3. Highland Park 20
4. Harding 19
5. Camden 18

RANKINGS

No changes at the top in all three categories. Changes around the 7 spot and below.

TEAM

1. Edina 6-0
2. Johnson 6-1
3. Harding 6-1
4. Eden Prairie 4-1
5. Highland Park 4-5
6. Como Park 4-5
7. Math & Science 7-2
8. Humboldt 4-5
9. Roosevelt 8-1
10. Central 4-5
11. Washington 2-6
12. North St. Paul 4-3
13. Burnsville 2-2
14. Tartan 1-3
15. Wayzata 2-2
16. Camden 5-1
17. Community of Peace 4-1
18. Park Center 4-4
19. Kennedy 1-5
20. Minnetonka 1-4
21. Hmong CPA 2-4
22. Edison 4-2
23. Prairie Seeds 2-4
24. South 1-4
25. Southwest 1-5
26. Washburn 2-4
27. Mpls North 0-5
28. Eagle Ridge 1-1
29. Twin City Academy 1-1
30. Fridley 0-1
31. Hiawatha 0-4
32. Community School of Excellence 0-2

INDIVIDUALS

Hit the sweet 16 this week in both singles and doubles.

SINGLES

1. Amanda Her, Johnson 6-1
2. Gao Zhia Vue, Harding 6-1
3. Niko Solheid, Como Park 7-2
4. Tsuki Solheid, Como Park2 9-0
5. Nica Johnson, Highland Park 5-4
6. Evelyn Ge, Edina 3-1
7. Isabel Chen, Minnetonka 3-0
8. Vivian Nguyen, Eden Prairie 3-2
9. Kpru Paw, Humboldt 3-5
10. Mollie Anderson, Roosevelt 8-0
11. Rose Braun, Central 3-4
12. Jenny Lee, Community of Peace 5-0
13. Paige Xiong, Harding2 5-2
14. Amelia Her, Johnson2 4-2
15. Aarushi Bhatnagar, Edina2 5-1
16. Sophia Mitchell, Roosevelt2 9-0

DOUBLES

1. Daisy Hennington-Hoff/ Ella Burke, Edina 6-0
2. Alice Verbrugge / Violet Solem Valentine, Highland Park 6-1
3. Cammie Yang / Aliya Vang, Johnson 4-2
4. Gray Mo / Cindy Yang, Harding 5-2
5. Lwe Paw / Way Ber Paw, Humboldt 5-3
6. Abigeya Akalewold / Ella Fremstad, Roosevelt 9-0
7. Sanjana Tatikonda / Sathvika Tatikonda, Math & Science 8-1
8. Asta Ket / Lana Yang, Como Park 3-6
9. Alexa Bernardy / Ashtyn Bernardy, Eden Prairie 3-2
10. Caitlin / Angela, Edina2 4-0
11. Kelly Yang / Lydia Vang, Harding2 7-0
12. Abby Putz / Julia Yang, Highland2 7-2
13. Vikki Burdette / Aniya Mehta, Eden Prairie2 1-1
14. Marina Chang / Cathy Hang, Central 2-7
15. Eh Christ Moo / Elliyan Chan, Washington 0-8
16. Tenzin Kalsang / Tharuni Chilkuri, Wayzata 2-2