The Carolina Hogs (1-8, 4pts) picked up their first win of the season with a DreamBreaker triumph over the Texas Ranchers (5-4, 17pts).

It looked like the heavily favored Ranchers would cruise to a regulation win when their gender doubles pairings of Etta Tuionetoa/Tina Pisnik and Christian Alshon/Eric Oncins each won their respective matchups.

But the Hogs rose to the challenge in mixed doubles.

Tammy Emmrich/Ben Johns got Carolina on the board with an 11-7 victory over Pisnik/Oncins before Kaitlyn Christian/Collin Johns stunned Tuionetoa/Alshon 11-6 to send the match to a DreamBreaker.

Christian spoke about the importance of strategy in that second mixed contest.

“Collin helped me a lot of with strategy, and when I have a plan, it makes things a lot easier,” she explained. “There’s no one better to get a plan from than Collin, so kudos to him.”

In the DreamBreaker, B. Johns and Christian were the difference-makers for the Hogs; Johns outscored Alshon 8-3, while Christian outscored Tuionetoa 6-2 through two rotations.

Those performances helped lift Carolina to a 21-12 triumph to get into the win column for the first time in 2025.

“Honestly, we know we can win singles against any team—it’s just a matter of getting there,” Johns said of the mentality going into the DreamBreaker. “This is a definitely a confidence booster in terms of mixed and singles, and I’m sure we can pull together the gender doubles, too.”

Both Carolina and Texas will be back in action on Friday. Carolina will face the St. Louis Shock, and Texas will take on the Utah Black Diamonds.