Out & About: Harding/St. Paul Central

#2 posting 4.10.2007
your periodic dose of badminton news & information

ST. PAUL HARDING knights 5
ST. PAUL CENTRAL minutemen 2

Harding remained undefeated, but they were not able to hold their scoreless streak intact. With a few of their players not playing because they missed practice (including defending state singles champ Pang Thao) Harding had to reshuffle their line up. First and fourth singles, and third doubles were missing. The tightest win for Harding came at second doubles with the match going the distance. But the State champs were able to win sweeping the doubles and taking second and third singles.

FIRST SINGLES
With Pang Thao out Mee Xiong moved up from second singles to replace her for Harding. Lee Vue led early in game one with getting six straight sideouts against Xiong. Vue led 11-6 before a fan gave the birdie back to Xiong. Vue had the advantage throughout the first game. The closest Xiong got was at 13-11 after a drop. A Xiong hitting error stopped that momentum and started Vue's run where she rattled off five straight points. Vue's lead pushed out to 19-12, but when she got the serve back she served deep. That opened the door for three more Xiong points to make the score 19-16. A fan returned serve back to Vue. She ended the first game on a clear 21-16.

Xiong started off game two with three staight points, and also had five straight side outs against
Vue for a 12-4 lead at one point. Xiong on her fifth serve had four straight points. When Vue broke through on her serve she had her own run of three to close to 12-8. Xiong took advantage of three hitting errors to go up 16-10. Vue used two hitting errors and then added a drop to close to 16-13, but that was as close as it was to be. Xiong held Vue to one serve for her last two services to close out the win 21-15.

In the deciding third game Xiong had the early advantage with seven straight side outs against Vue. Xiong led 12-7 breaking through with points on her serve on her 3rd, 4th, and 5th serve. Most of the points however were coming on Vue hitting errors. But Vue also had an impressive side out streak with nine straight over Xiong. Vue climbed back from the deficit to take her first lead at 17-16 on a drop. Neither got more than one point away. Vue did go up 20-18 on a drop, but Xiong fought off elimination with her own drop and then tied it with a drop. The drop was the point of choice for five straight points for each player. On Xiong's serve Vue took advantage of a wide shot by Xiong to go up 22-21. Vue closed with another Xiong hitting error deep.

SIDEOUTS: Vue 23/36---.639; Xiong 24/38---.632
SERVE RUNS: Vue 2, Xiong 2
POINTS: Vue 59: Harding hitting errors 23 (13 net, 4 wide, 4 deep, 2 fans); Drops 10; Drives 8; Clears 7; Smashes 7; Harding serving errors 4 (3 deep, 1 short)
Xiong: 58: Central hitting errors 23 (16 wide, 3 net, 2 fans, 1 deep, 1 general); Drops 21; Drives 7 (4 regular, 3 change ups); Smashes 4; Clears 2; Central serving errors 1


SINGLES
1. Lee Vue (SPC) def. Mee Xiong 21-16, 15-21, 23-21
2. Stephanie King (H) def Nha Phan 21-18, 21-12
3. Crystal Yang (H) def. Xiong Thao 21-17, 22-20
4. Pahoua Yang (SPC) def. Yer Chang 21-19, 21-11
DOUBLES
1. Dia Xiong/PaNhia Yang (H) def. Tracey Vangh/Xiong Xiong 23-21, 21-9
2. Pa Yang/Nalee Xiong (H) def. Poua Thao/Da Chang 21-17, 16-21, 21-16
3. Chao Xiong/PaNhia Vang (H) def. Ka Yang/Alexis Lor 21-18, 21-15

BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: 2-2 .500
Games: Harding 6-3 .667
Points: Harding 173-168 .507
decided by 10+: Harding 1-0
decided by 2: Central 2-1

DOUBLES
matches: Harding 3-0 1.000
games: Harding 6-1 .857
points: 144-117 .552
decided by 10+: Harding 1-0
decided by 2: Harding 1-0

Next up: tomorrow morning