It’s DUPR Bowl Monday!! Get your pizza ordered for later call your pickle pals over to watch the conclusion of Major League Pickleball. We’ve got three teams still in contention for the final match. Team BLQK led by Ben Johns, already have their sport clinched. The Chimeras will need to win their final match against the Pickle Ranchers in order to secure the remaining spot in the DUPR. If they lose to the Ranchers, the Discovery Warriors will advance based on the head-to-head victory last night.
The Discovery Warriors had a massive win over the Chimeras late last night to keep them in contention for the Pritchard Cup. The Warriors first overall pick, Tyson McGuffin, was out sick with food poisoning and had to miss the match so Rob Cassidy subbed in. He and Lea Jansen won a nail-biter game four, 15-13, to seal the victory for the Warriors.
Today we get the family feud matchups that MLP has been waiting for, Johns vs Johns and Waters vs Waters.
Morning Matchups
Discovery Warriors vs Team Rally
The Discovery Warriors keep their playoff hopes alive with a win over Team Rally. Vivienne David completes her 14-0 season winning both games in their final match in the regular season. Tyson McGuffin was back in action after missing last night’s match. He will be ready if they are able to slide into tonight’s match.
They will be watching the Chimeras vs Ranchers to see if they can steal the last spot in the final.
BLQK vs Lions
Team BLQK has been unstoppable after their loss to the Chimeras. The Johns vs Johns matchup did not disappoint. A close match at 15-13 finish, that ended from an acrobatic double Erne from Devilliers that was called for a foot fault and confirmed by video review. BLQK ended up sweeping the Lions 4-0.
They can now sit and wait to see who they will face in the DUPR Bowl!
ATX Pickleballers vs Team Clean
There was nothing but pride on the line in this matchup. CP and Yana added another win to their resume and are starting to look like a pretty stong pairing. Team Clean took the match 3-1 winning the final three games.
Pickle Ranchers vs Chimeras
The Wates vs Waters showdown was everything we wanted it to be. They faced off in both women’s and mixed doubles and we went to a super singles finale to see who would go to the championship match!
The singles game went the distance and had women facing men for each matchup in the game. At 14-14 AJ Koller served to Lindsey Newman, patiently approached the net, and slid a passing shot down the line and the court erupted. This point won the match for the Chimeras and punched their ticket into the DUPR BOWL!
It was an epic DUPR Bowl to cap off the Major League Pickleball weekend. Team BLQK was up 2 games to 1 going into the deciding game 4. The mixed doubles game between Irina Tereschenko/Rob Nunnery and Lee Whitwell/AJ Koller had the audience in Dreamland on their feet. Every single point felt like it would decide the winners of the Pritchard Cup.
Down 12-14 with the game on the line, Team BLQK forced a side out to get the serve back. In the win-by-one format, the side out at 14 has been a massive swing of momentum. Tonight Nunnery and Tereschenko used that swing to tie the match at 14-14. When the game was on the line, Team BLQK made a couple of perfect drops and forced the final mistake from AJ Koller. A ball that hit the tape and almost crawled over the net ultimately stayed home. In slow motion, it fell to the ground on the Chimeras side of the net and ended season 1 of Major League Pickleball.
The crowd went nuts and Team BLQK celebrated their triumphant victory. Ben, Irina, Andrea and Rob are the first winners of the Pritchard Cup and season 1 champs! Lee Whitwell took home the MVP Award and we already can’t wait for season 2!
