Out & About: Eden Prairie/Highland Park

#2 posting 4.11.2007
your periodic dose of badminton news & information

EDEN PRAIRIE eagles 5
ST. PAUL HIGHLAND PARK scots 2

The calendar may say spring, but it was a winterwonderland outside. Badminton keeps rolling with the games all tucked nicely inside climate controlled facilities. No postponements here.

This game was much tighter than the final score indicated. All the singles went the max to three games. EP took three of those singles to put their stamp on the contest. On the doubles side, both 2nd and 3rd doubles started off going extra points, again a measure of how tight the match was. But I saw games where both players lost track of points. Game 3 of 3rd singles ended way too early with Panhia Lee trailing in my book 18-17. In the official scorecard Lee won game three 21-18. How four points disappeared is probably due to losing track of the score during long stretches. On another note, the spectating angles at Highland are tight. I had to climb the bleachers to watch as there is no safe spot on the floor to watch the action.

FIRST SINGLES
In this fast moving game things seemed rushed especially in game three.
In game one EP's Katie Vohnoutka grabbed the early lead on three hitting errors, all in the net, by Khoua Xiong. Vohnoutka maintained the lead to 7-5 when Xiong got her fourth straight side out. She then picked up two service points to go up 8-7. Xiong's next serve was wide to give the serve back to Vohnoutka. She took advantage of that to add two points to her total, the last with a smash. Xiong took the lead after a 6-2 run 14-12. Vohnoutka finished off the game with a 9-4 run. Vohnoutka had three straight side outs to cement the win and prevent Xiong from getting any traction. I had the score 21-17 however, not 21-18.

Khoua Xiong bounced back in game two breaking free late in the contest with a 7-3 run. Xiong was able to stop any big Vohnoutka run and was able to squeeze four runs of three (one point on a side out and then two service points). Both players had five points each on drops in this game. But Vohnoutka had 11 points sent over as gifts for Xiong while only receiving six points in return. Xiong won 21-16

In the deciding third game it seemed as if things were rushed for Xiong. The game was tied at four when Vohnoutka had a hard drive for a side out and then added two points on her serve. Xiong got a side out on a drop to make it 7-5, but then the roof caved in with a 14-1 run by Vohnoutka punctuated by two six serve runs. I got the feeling Xiong was late for another event and wanted this event to be over. Vohnoutka won 21-6.

SIDEOUTS: Vohnoutka 15/27---.556; Xiong 14/28---.500
SERVE RUNS: Vohnoutka 4, Xiong 0
POINTS:
Vohnoutka 57: Xiong hitting errors 22 (14 net, 5 wide, 3 deep); Drives 12; Drops 12; Xiong serving errors 5; Smashes 3; Clears 2; aces 1
Xiong: 45: Vohnoutka hitting errors 23 (9 wide, 5 net, 5 deep, 2 fan, 2 general); Drops 10; Clears 5; Drives 4; Missed serves 2; Aces 1

THIRD SINGLES
This had its own bizarre twist as my book had the third game actually with Leslie Suarez up 18-17 when the players shook hands. Panhia Lee of Highland took the first game by establishing the early lead of 5-1 and 8-2. Lee took advantage of Suarez hitting errors (10) to take game one 21-15.

Suarez cleaned up her game in game two and Lee had more errors (9). Suarez also had her drop game working for five points. Lee led 9-8, but Suarez re-established herself at 14-11. Lee had one last run to go up 16-15. A wide shot gave the ball back to Suarez. That started a four point run for Suarez (3 points on wide shots) to go up 19-16. Suarez added two drops to make it 21-17.

I had Lee up 5-3 early. On Suarez's third serve she racked up six points to go up 10-5. On Suarez's fifth serve she added two more points (along with the side outs too) to go up 14-8. Lee then got a side out on a fan and then had a 5-1 run to slice the lead to 15-13. Suarez got the serve back on a hitting error. Both players had two straight serving errors. That made it 17-14 for Suarez. Lee ended with a 3-1 run to make it 18-17 with Suarez in the lead, but that was the end of the match as both shook hands.

SIDEOUTS: Lee 18/29---.621; Suarez 15/29---.517
SERVE RUNS: Lee 4, Suarez 2
POINTS:
Lee 55: Suarez hitting errors 23 (8 net, 8 fan, 5 wide, 2 deep); Drives 8;
Clears 6; Smashes 6; Drops 6; Aces 3; Suarez Serving errors 3
Suarez: 54: Lee hitting errors 26 (12 Net, 8 wide, 3 fan, 3 deep); Drops 10; Drives 5; Clears 5; Lee serving errors 5; aces 2; smash 1.

SINGLES
1. Katie Vohnoutka (EP) def. Khoua Xiong 21-18, 16-21, 21-6
2. Maddie Lenhard (EP) def. Khou Yang 17-21, 21-18, 21-18
3. Panhia Lee (SPHP) def. Leslie Suarez 21-15, 17-21, 21-18 (I had it 17-18)
4. Jenna Hartkopf (EP) def. Vang Lee 21-17, 17-21, 21-9
DOUBLES
1. Rebecca Wade/Larysa Eutenuer (EP) def. Bee Yang/Pakou Lor 21-17, 21-8
2. Misha Everts/Elena Koronmeyer (SPHP) def. Krista Anderson/Kaitlyn Shore 23-21, 21-15
3. Alycia Willey/Whitney Walz (EP) def. Mainong Hang/Emily Huyhn 27-25, 21-14

BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: EP 3-1 .750
Games: EP 7-5 .583
Points: 230-208 .525
decided by 10+: EP 2-0
decided by 3: EP 3-1
DOUBLES
matches: EP 2-1 .667
games: EP 4-2 .667
points: 126-109 .536
decided by 10+: EP 1-0
decided by 2: 1-1

Next up: tomorrow