
3 things to watch for on Friday at the Edward Jones MLP Mid-Season Tournament
The Edward Jones MLP Mid-Season Tournament continues on Friday with eight matches across Championship Court and Grandstand Court at Belknap Park.
The day will feature the Challenger level final, the first two Premier level quarterfinal matches, and several consolation matches in the Premier bracket.
You can find the order of play and backets here.
Now, let’s get into what to watch for.
- The Las Vegas Night Owls and Nashville Chefs will clash for the Challenger level title in the first match on Championship Court. The Night Owls hold the top seed, but the Chefs enter this contest on a ten-match winning streak that includes a DreamBreaker victory over Las Vegas in their most recent meeting last week in New York. Michelle Esquivel has played especially well for Nashville and has won nine games in a row across the Chefs’ last five matches.
- The quarterfinal matchup between the Brooklyn Pickleball Team and Columbus Sliders projects to be the best match of the day the Premier level. Brooklyn—who is having AJ Koller fill in for an injured Dekel Bar for the third straight event—has won five straight, while the Sliders are on a seven-match winning streak themselves. Columbus will look to take advantage of being the healthier of the two squads as they attempt to advance to the semifinals.
- In the consolation bracket, the SoCal Hard Eights will face the Chicago Slice. Despite losing to the St. Louis Shock on Thursday, the Hard Eights put forth an impressive effort highlighted by Ryan Fu/Blaine Hovenier’s victory over Hayden Patriquin/Gabe Tardio in men’s doubles. They will look to carry that momentum into Friday’s clash against Chicago, who fell to the Texas Ranchers in the Round of 16.
Grandstand Court action begins at 12:30pm ET, while Championship Court matches will start at 1pm ET on Pickleballtv.
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