Out & About: Johnson/Burnsville

#2 posting 4.24.2007
your daily dose of badminton news & information

ST. PAUL JOHNSON governors 6
BURNSVILLE blaze 1

St. Paul Johnson turned the tables on Burnsville with a convincing 6-1 win. Burnsville beat the Governors earlier this season in Burnsville 4-3. This match was a battle for second seed in the state and Johnson put forth their case. Johnson will move to second now in my informal poll.

For the third straight game a new #1 singles took the court for Johnson, with Pakou Vang heading the singles. Yesterday's #1, Pang Thao, won at second singles. Ye Thao, who partned with Pakou Vang at #1 doubles yesterday, won a marathon match at third singles. The only holdover from yesterday was Desirae Garcia at fourth singles.

With Vang and Thao going back to singles, the pair of Karen Obermeyer-Kolb/Kia Thao moved from 2nd to 1st doubles. Yesterday's 3rd pair Mai Ka Yang/Bellick Pha moved to 2nd and Kao Lee Xiong/Kao Nou Vue took over at 3rd.

Burnsville squeezed out a win at second doubles in three games. Brittany Pomijie/Erica Andreason was a new pair from the three games I have seen previously for the Blaze. Other roster moves included Ciara Hogenson moving up one spot from 3rd to 2nd singles and Jenny Kieffaber flipflopping spots. Heidi Werness checked in at fourth for the first time in my viewing. First doubles remained the same, but, as stated before the 2nd doubles were new, and the third doubles was also new with Anna Trachsel and Lexy Drayton.

This marked the third straight match where I have seen Johnson. I am not stalking them, but the schedule had the more compelling games lined up for them and so I was there.

FIRST SINGLES
Pakou Vang started off with a 3-0 lead and that set the tempo for the game. Vang's side out game was strong with six straight side outs to maintain the lead. Alvarez finally got a service point on her seventh serve with a soft drive. Vang, however, had more soft drives up her sleeve with five in the first game total. Vang maintained a 4 point advantage in the middle of the match and squeezed a point out of her last five serves for a big advantage. There were no big runs in this game, but the drip-drip-drip of one point per serve eventually brought victory. That coupled with the side out game with another four straight propelled Vang to victory.

Alvarez opened game two up 2-0 with two Vang hitting errors. Vang tied it at two and it remained fairly tight early on with Alvarez again testing the two point lead at 8-6. Vang took control with a 5-1 run to go up 12-9. Alvarez did pull even at 15 with a 6-3 run. Vang sided out with a soft drive and then piled up four straight points to put her on the verge 20-15. Alvarez held off for one point on a side out clear. Vang answered with a smash to finish the match.

SIDEOUTS: Vang 16/23 .696; Alvarez 10/21 .476
SERVE RUNS: Vang 1
POINTS:
Vang 43 * I had one more point in game two Winners 28: Drives 14 (soft 7), Drops 6, Smashes 4, Clears 1, Ace 1
Alvarez Errors 15: hitting 14 (wides 6, deeps 4, fans 2, ceilings 2, nets 2); serving 1
Alvarez 31: Winners 15: Drives 8 (soft 2); drops 5, clear 1, smash 1
Vang Errors 16: hitting 13 (net 7, deep 3, wide 2, fan 1), serving 3 (deep 3)
Time: 14:38

THIRD SINGLES
This was the tightest of the matches today. It had great defense, comebacks, diving plays, power and finesse. The first game started off with both Yee Thao and Jenny Kieffaber trading side outs for 7 straight serves. Thao broke the string with a service point on her 4th serve. Kieffaber matched her on her 5th serve. Thao put two drives together to take a 10-8 lead. Kieffaber tied it with Thao errors. Thao again pulled out to a 16-14 lead. Kieffaber came back to go up 18-17 on two Thao errors. Thao tied it to side out, but Kieffaber held Thao scoreless on her last two serves. Kieffaber scored on her 14th serve to make it 20-18. That was the difference.

Thao cranked up her game in the next two games with only four winners in game one. In game two she was more proactive with 15 winners. Thao took the early lead at 5-2 10-5, and 13-6 with a mixture of short and deep birds. Kieffaber was running the court. Thao was in command at 19-12. Kieffaber had to take a break to gas up with her inhaler twice at 17-11 and 17-12. Kieffaber did get on a roll late with a 7-2 run. She held off the finish with four straight service points on her 11th serve. But the accumulated drip-drip-drip points Thao squeezed out on 8 of her 10 serves took its toll. All Thao had to do was get one side out and she hung on for a drive for point 21-19. this game took 10:53 minutes.

Game three had Thao take the early lead once again. Thao led 5-2, and pushed to 17-10. Kieffaber had some great defensive work with her goalie reflexes stealing a point from Thao on point 17-13. That propelled Kieffaber to tie it at 19 with three points on her 10th serve. A fan ended her serve, and Thao used that opening to finish with a drive that handcuffed her.

Key in this match was the side out % with Thao holding a big advantage. Kieffaber had to move over the court more often than Thao and the asthma did catch up. But another big advantage was the 33-18 advantage in winners for Thao. Thao lost game one with only four winners.

SIDEOUTS:
Thao 22/34 .657; Kieffaber 15/35 .429
SERVE RUNS: Kieffaber 3, Thao 1
POINTS:
Thao 61: Winners: 33: Drives 11, Drops 11, Smashes 7, Clears 3, Aces 1
Kieffaber Errors 28: hitting 26 (net 13, fan 4, deep 3, ceiling 3, wide 3); serving 2 (wide 1, deep 1)
Kieffaber 58: Winners 18: Smashes 6, Drives 6, Drops 5, Clears 1
Thao Errors 40: hitting 32 (net 13, wide 10, deep 5, fan 4), serving 8 (deep 5, muff 2, short 1)
Time: 29:41

SINGLES
1. Pakou Vang (J) def Gabby Alvarez 21-16, 21-14
2. Pang Thao (J) def Ciara Hogenson 21-8, 21-15
3. Yee Thao (J) def Jenny Kieffaber 19-21, 21-19, 21-19
4. Desirae Garcia (J) def Heidi Werness 21-14, 21-10
DOUBLES
1. Karen Obermeyer-Kolb/Kia Thao (J) def Michelle Teigland/Lyndsay Mortenson 21-16, 21-13
2. Brittany Pomijie/Erica Andreason (B) def Mai Ka Yang/Bellick Pha 21-18, 18-21, 21-16
3. Kao Lee Xiong/Kao Nou Vue (J) def Andrea Trachsel/Lexy Drayton 21-9, 21-15

BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Johnson 4-0 1.000
Games: Johnson 8-1 .889
Points: Johnson 187-136 .579
decided by 10+: Johnson 2-0
decided by 3 or less: Johnson 2-1
DOUBLES
matches: Johnson 2-1 .667
games: Johnson 5-2 .714
points: Johnson 139-113 .552
decided by 10+: Johnson 1-0
decided by 3: 1-1

Next up: tomorrow morning