#1 posting 4.10.2008
badminton news & information
MINNEAPOLIS NORTH polars 4
MINNEAPOLIS WASHBURN millers 3
The weather outside was frightful, but badminton is the luckiest of spring sports in that weather doesn't interfere with action. It is raining turning to snow and traffic was crawling along. I made it to Washburn in plenty of time, but it took over an hour to get back home when in should take 30 minutes or less.
As it was the weather was more favorable to North as they swept the doubles and took fourth singles in a 4-3 win. Only one match went three games and that was at third singles. Paris Koehler won the rubber match and rallied from an 18-16 deficit to win 21-19.
FIRST SINGLES 
Dani Sack of Washburn won both games by identical 21-6 marks. In game one Sack scored on all five of her serves, and each serve garnered at least two points. On the other end, Sack had a .800 side out percentage holding Foua Khang scoreless on her serve the last four times. Sack used drives for 8 points in game one.
In game two Sack opened with six straight and then on her third serve rattled off 8 more for a 16-3 lead. Sack had two straight aces in the second run. Again Sack prevented Khang from scoring on her serve .800 of the time. The time of the whole match barely made 10 minutes.
OTHER MATCHES
After that I caught the tail end of 1st doubles won by the North pair of Phoua Khang and Vang Khang 21-12. That was an identical score too from game one. After that I moved over to 2nd doubles and it was a bit more competitive with North taking the match 21-17. Then it was off to 3rd singles. That was the most compelling match of the day with the contest going three games. I came in with Washburn's Paris Koehler up 8-7. She held a 13-11 lead when North's Pang Lee ran off four straight to lead 15-13. Koehler tied it at 15 and 16. Lee went up 18-16 when Koehler requested a water break. After the return Lee missed her serve. Koehler scored two more to go back in front 19-18. Lee tied it at 19 on a hitting error. Koehler scored the last three (yes it was 22-19 in my book) with the last two on drops. That match didn't affect the outcome of the match as North headed north into the polar landscape with the win.
1st SINGLES BY THE NUMBERS
SIDEOUTS:
Sack 8/10-.800; Khang 3/11-.273
LONGEST SERVE RUNS:
Sack 8, Khang 1
POINTS:
Sack 42
Winners: 21: Drives 11, Drops 4, Aces 3, Clears 2, Smashes 1
Khang Errors 21: hitting 20 (Net 12, Fan 3, Drive 3, Wide 2); serving 1 (deep 1)
Khang 12
Winners 6: Drives 3, Drops 3
Sack Errors 6: hitting 5 (net 2, wide 2, deep 1), serving 1 (deep 1)
Time: 10 minutes
SINGLES
1. Dani Sack (W) beat Foua Khang 21-6, 21-6
2. Maly Yi (W) beat Mee Khang 21-14, 21-12
3. Paris Koehler (W) beat Pang Lee 21-18, 13-21, 21-19
4. Pa Kou Pha (N) beat Sigourney Alexander 21-12, 21-14
DOUBLES
1. Phoua Khang/Vang Khang (N) beat Nicole Weishaar/Xee Vue 21-12, 21-12
2. Jaime Lee/Amanda Seline (N) beat Fartun Hashi/Farhiya Ahmed 21-15, 21-17
3. Xue Vang/See Lee (N) beat Tania Castron-Hernandez/Brenda Campean-Morales 21-10, 21-10
BY THE NUMBERS
SINGLES
Matches: North 1-3 .250
Games: North 3-6 .333
Points: North 138-165 .455
decided by 10+: North 0-2 .000
decided by 3 or less: North 0-2 .000
DOUBLES
matches: North 3-0 1.000
games: North 6-0 1.000
points: North 126-76 .624
decided by 10+: North 2-0 1.000
decided by 3-: 0-0
Next up: tomorrow morning
