Out & About: Central/Johnson

#1 posting 5.4.2007
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ST. PAUL CENTRAL minutemen 4
ST. PAUL JOHNSON governors 3

Central pulled a mild upset with a 4-3 win at Johnson. Central took the first three singles and, in the pivotal game, took the third doubles in three 21-19, 14-21, and 21-10. The win snapped a three game winning streak for Johnson. Central is now 7-6 on the year, and 4-4 in 4-3 games. it was Johnson's fourth loss of the year. The Governors are 5-2 in 4-3 games.

Johnson rearraigned their line up moving their first and second singles (Pakou Vang, and Pang Thao) to first doubles. The rest of Johnson's doubles dropped down a spot. Their third singles, Ye Thao, moved up to first singles with the rest of the squad also moving up. The strategy was to sweep the doubles, but in the first game Ka Yang and Alexis Thao squeeked out a 21-19 win. The Johnson pair of Yang and Pha took the second game, but fell behind and the game snowbaled on them as Central bounced back with the 21-10 win.

FIRST SINGLES
Lee Vue from Central swept Ye Thao. Thao started game one with three straight points. Vue got rolling with points on her second and third serves. Vue ran off five straight on her third serve to take an 8-4 lead, including two aces on which Thao fanned. Vue kept earning her points in the first game. She only got two points off Thao errors. Vue built the lead out to 18-9 with a pair of drives and a drop. Thao had most of her points in the first game on Vue gifts. Thao only had four winners. Thao had a 5-1 run with four gifts from Vue to trail 19-14. Vue had a drive for the side out 20-14 and then the pair was shaking hands. Another in the mystery point wins.

Vue maintained the momentum with the game one win with six straight points to open game two. Thao fought back and closed to 10-8 with four services points on her fourth serve. Vue was again delivering error points, this time three. Vue put some distance between herself and Thao at 14-10, but Thao was siding out on 6 of 7 serves. Thao ran off four points on 8th serve to go up 17-15. Three side outs later it was 18-17 for Thao. Vue snapped her point drought on her serve with a clear and hitting error to take a 19-18 lead. Thao sided out to tie it, but then served deep to turn the bird back over. Vue took the contest on a Thao net hitting error 21-19.

SIDEOUTS:
Vue 11/18 .611; Thao 9/19 .474
SERVE RUNS:
Vue 3 (6 points), Thao 2 (4)
POINTS:
Vue 41: Winners 24: Drives 12 (2 soft); Drops 4, Aces 3, Clears 3, Smashes 2
Thao Errors 17: hitting 12 (Wide 5, Net 3, Deep 3, Ceiling 1); Serving 5 (Deep 5)
Thao 33. Winners 10: Drops 4; Drives 3; Smashes 2; Clears 1
Vue Errors 23: hitting 23 (Net 15, Wide 8)
TIME: 17:48
* I only had Vue winning the first game 20-14

FOURTH SINGLES
This was an odd game with a big delay in game two and another short changed point total in game three. Desirae Garcia was the only Johnson single player to claim victory.

Central's Xiong Thao had the better of it in game one as she was able to score on five of her six serves. On serve four she ran off four to go up 10-6. Garcia closed to 12-11, but then the roof caved in as Thao served out with 8 in a row.

After the break Garcia came back with a cleaner game. In game one she handed 12 points to Thao. In game two she limited that to six. Garcia raced out to a 7-2 lead with a pair of smashes. Garcia continued to push out to a 10-4 lead, when Thao had to leave the court for a break. A few minutes later she came back, but the delay did not slow Garcia's momentum. Garcia was able to side out on six of the seven Thao serves in game two. Garcia finished up with a drop to the back hand side for a 21-7 convincing win.

Garcia came out strong again in game three with a 4-1 lead after her first two serves. Vue rallied to take a 5-4 lead with three straight serves on her second serve. Garcia bounced right back to lead 9-6. Vue tied it at 10 with an ace on her fifth serve. Three straight drops by Garcia put her back in front 13-10. Vue tied it at 14. Garcia edged back in front 17-14 with a smash. Vue came back with two hitting error points to make it 17-16. Three side outs later it was over at 19-17??? Another miscounted game, but Garcia was ahead and won the contest.

SIDEOUTS:
Garcia 11/23 .478; Thao 8/22 .364
SERVE RUNS:
Garcia 4 (5 points), Thao 3 (8)
POINTS:
Garcia 51*: Winners 34: Drops 13; Drives 8 (1 cut); Clears 8; Smashes 4; Ace 1
Thao Errors 17: hitting 11 (Net 6, Wide 3, Fans 2); Serving 6 (Deep 4, Wide 2)
Thao 45. Winners 13: Smashes 4, Aces 3, Drives 3, Drops 2, Clears 1
Garcia Errors 32: hitting 31 (Net 10, Wide 10, Deep 6, Fan 5); Seving 1 (deep)
TIME: 28:32
* I only had Garcia winning 19-17 in game three.

SINGLES
1. Lee Vue (C) def Ye Thao 21-14, 21-19
2. Nha Phan (C) def Kao Lee Xiong 21-8, 21-14
3. Yer Chang (C) def Gina Garcia 21-13, 21-14
4. Desirae Garcia (J) def Xiong Thao 11-21, 21-7, 21-17*
DOUBLES
1. Pakou Vang/Pang Thao (J) def Tracy Vangh/Xiong Xiong 21-15, 21-16
2. Karen Olbermery-Kolb/Kia Thao (J) def. Dua Thao/Da Chang 18-21, 21-14, 21-16
3. Ka Yang/Alexis Thao (C) def. Mai ka Yang/Belick Pha 21-19, 14-21, 21-10
*not what I had

BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: Central 3-1 .750
Games: Central 7-2 .778
Points: Central 171-135 .559
]decided by 10+: Central 2-1 .667
decided by 3 or less: Central 1-0 1.000
DOUBLES
Matches: Johnson 2-1 .667
games: Johnson 5-3 .625
points: Johnson 152-138 .524
decided by 10+: Central 1-0 1.000
decided by 3: Central 2-0 1.000

Next up: tomorrow morning