Out & About: South/Henry

#2 posting 5.3.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

MINNEAPOLIS SOUTH tigers 5
MINNEAPOLIS HENRY patriots 2

Minneapolis South beat Henry 5-2 and in so doing tied with Edison for the city championship. South beat Edison twice on the season and has the edge in tie breaks. South lost to North and Southwest when they didn't have their full roster. Henry won the first meeting between the two teams 4-3.
South swept the singles and did so with 2-0 sweeps at three spots. At third singles CeCe Durney lost game one by a narrow three point margin, and then she stormed back for solid 21-10, 21-14 wins in two and three. Henry took the first two doubles. South squeeked out a two point win twice at third singles.

South has all the varsity going at once that is why you only see the first singles today.

FIRST SINGLES
South's Bee Xiong bounced back from yesterday's game with Harding's Pang Thao with convincing wins over Lisa Thao. Xiong will probably be seeded one in the upcoming Minneapolis City tournament. Xiong drew first blood in game one on her third serve. Her first two serves were serving errors. On Xiong's fourth serve she had four straight points including two aces. Thao tied it up at 9 with her own run of three on her fifth serve. That was Thao's last points off her serve. Xiong was able to get the next three Thao serves sided out. It was 14-11 when Xiong ran off six straight to go to the verge at 20-11. Xiong had five winners in that run including two drops and two smashes (or one punch). A Xiong missed serve gave the bird back to Thao. Xiong got the final point on a smash for a 21-12 win in game one.

Xiong used that momentum for a 9-1 lead. She had eight straight points on her second serve, six of them winners. Xiong got points off every serve except on the first. Thao also was able to draw blood on her serves, but she never had the huge run that propelled Xiong on to victory. This game was another in the miscounted category as both players ended with Xiong up 20-12. The miscounting has been a constant feature of this year's games. It didn't change the outcome in this game. Louder score calling and players having the courage to correct the score would also help.

SIDEOUTS:
Xiong 8/14 .571; Thao 5/15 .333
SERVE RUNS:
Xiong 4 (8); Thao 2 (3)
POINTS:
Xiong 41*: Winners 27: Drops 10; Smashes 5; Drives 4 (soft 3); Clears 4; Aces 4 (2 short);
Thao Errors 14: hitting 12 (Net 6, Wide 4, Fan 2); Serving 2 (Deep 1, Wide 1)
Thao 24. Winners 10: Drives 6 (5 soft); Drops 3; Smash 1
Xiong Errors 14: hitting 9 (Net 5, Wide 3, Deep 1); Serving 5 (Deep 3, Wide 2)
TIME: 11:45
* game ended 20-12 in game two.

SINGLES
1. Bee Xiong (S) def Lisa Thao 21-12, 21*-12
2. Ma Xiong (S) def 21-11, 21-18
3. CeCe Durney (S) def 18-21, 21-10, 21-14
4. Jessia Jolson (S) def 21-18, 21-19
DOUBLES
1. Yer Yang/Mai Chia Yang (H) def Karen Perault-Boughton/Jackie Heslop 21-16, 25-27, 21-11
2. Yer Yang/Choua Yang (H) def Katherine McQuarter/Rachel Mamen 21-14, 21-17
3. Melissa Ng/Jane Olmsted-Rumsey (S) def Dia Lee/Bao Xiong 21-19, 24-22

BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: South 4-0
Games: South 8-1 .889
Points: South 186-135 .579
decided by 10+: South 2-0 1.000
decided by 3 or less: South 3-1 .750
DOUBLES
Matches: Henry 2-1 .667
games: Henry 4-3 .571
points: Henry 150-130 .536
decided by 10+: Henry 1-0 1.000
decided by 3: South 3-0 1.000

Next up: tomorrow morning