Major League Pickleball completed the last event of Season One for both the Challenger and Premier Leagues this past weekend in San Clemente, California.

Challenger League: Play kicked off on Thursday with pool play, with the twelve teams being separated into three pools of four teams each. The top two teams in each pool made their way to the playoffs to fight for the chance for an MLP title. After pool play, the Bay Area Breakers, and Dallas Pickleball Club both came out with 3-0 records and made their way automatically into the semifinals. In the quarterfinals, the DC Pickleball Team took out the Arizona Drive while the Chicago Slice took out the Miami Pickleball Club. In the semifinals, the Dallas Pickleball Club defeated DC Pickleball Team in a 3-1 victory, making their way to the finals. The Chicago Slice, who had previously lost in a 0-4 shutout to the Breakers in pool play, brought the energy in their semifinal matchup, defeating the previously undefeated Breakers 3-1. In the finals, Dallas Pickleball Club, coached by JOOLA player Brandon French, started off with a 2-0 lead as they took both the men’s and women’s doubles points. The mixed doubles duo of Connor Garnett and Susannah Barr fought back for the Slice, clinching the third point for their team to go down 1-2. Ultimately, the mixed doubles win only prolonged their defeat as the Dallas Pickleball Club took the fourth point, handily winning the second mixed doubles matchup 21-12.With the Breakers winning the past two events of the MLP season and the Chicago Slice having a strong performance in all three events, both teams claimed their spot in the Super Finals. In the Super Finals, Two-time MLP MVP, Ewa Radzikowska, fought hard for the Breakers, winning both her Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles matches alongside partners Vivian Glozman and Pablo Tellez. The Chicago Slice countered by taking the Men’s Doubles point and the other mixed doubles matchup to tie the Breakers 2-2 and force a Dreambreaker. In the Dreambreaker, Connor Garnett and Susannah Barr of the Slice took the majority of points against their respective opponents, Christian Alshon and Vivian Glozman, to lead their team to the Super Final victory.

Premier League:Premier play started a day later than Challenger, starting pool play off on Friday. The Premier League followed the same format as Challenger, with two teams making it out of the three respective pools. The Seattle Pioneers, led by Ben Johns, won all three of their matches in pool play to earn a bye into the semifinals along with the Milwaukee Mashers. In the quarterfinals, the New Jersey 5’s fought their way past MLP Mesa Champions, the LA Mad Drops to earn their spot against the Milwaukee Mashers in the semis. Meanwhile, the ATX Pickleballers took out the Florida Smash to go up against the Seattle Pioneers. In semifinal play, the Mashers and the 5’s fought a tight battle as the match was forced into the Dreambreaker. The 5’s, having a strong singles lineup for both men and women, were too strong for the Mashers as they upset the Mashers to go into the finals. In the other semifinal, the Pioneers stayed true to their seed, as they handled the ATX Pickleballers with a 3-1 defeat. In the finals, the 5’s went up 1-0 as Anna Leigh Waters and Lea Jansen beat the duo of Meghan Dizon and Etta Wright. The match was all tied up at 1-1 when the men for the Pioneers, Ben Johns and Tyler Loong, fought back to take the Men’s Doubles point. In another even matchup, the mixed doubles points were split to force yet another Dreambreaker. In the Dreambreaker, Ben Johns showed why he has earned the World #1 ranking as he earned the majority of the points against James Ignatowich to help lead his team to their championship victory. With their second MLP victory, the Seattle Pioneers named Ben Johns the MVP of MLP San Clemente.With two MLP championships, the Seattle Pioneers were set for a spot in the Super Finals alongside the MLP Mesa champions, the LA Mad Drops. The LA Mad Drops came with a vengeance, as the female duo of Catherine Parenteau and Irina Tereschenko easily defeated Dizon and Wright in the women’s matchup 21-6, the largest defeat of the weekend. The men for the Mad Drops followed suit as Julian Arnold and Thomas Wilson came up with the 21-19 victory against Johns/Loong. As the Mad Drops went up 2-0 with only one point left to claim victory, Arnold/Parenteau were set to face Johns/Wright in the first mixed doubles matchup. Johns/Wright were unable to hold on for their team as Arnold/Parenteau completed the 3-0 shutout victory for the Mad Drops 21-17.

Equipment:

Ewa Radzikowska – Perseus CFS 16

Ben Johns – Perseus CFS 16

Lea Jansen – Perseus CFS 14

Etta Wright – Perseus CFS 14