The Dallas Flash kicked off their postseason campaign with a DreamBreaker triumph over the Columbus Sliders early Friday evening.

This particular matchup wasn’t one most fans were expecting to see, however.

As the No. 2 seed, the Flash had the chance to select their quarterfinal opponent. The top-seeded St. Louis Shock chose the Orlando Squeeze, who beat the Utah Black Diamonds in the play-in round.

Most people expected Dallas to choose the other victor from the play-in round, the Texas Ranchers, who outlasted the Miami Pickleball Club with a 21-19 DreamBreaker win.

Instead, the defending champions choose to play Columbus, a team that handed them their first loss of the season nearly a month ago at the Marathon MLP St. Louis.

Pickleballtv’s Michelle McMahon asked Flash owner Mark Molthan about the choice.

“It came down to gut,” he revealed. “We sat down at dinner, and we all voted. We went around the table, and everybody gave their piece, and we voted. This is the way we feel best for the team to advance.”

The decision paid off in the first match, obviously, but the day’s final contest wasn’t without its tense moments.

After a dominant performance from Tyra Black/Augie Ge in the first mixed doubles game put the Flash up 2-1, Dallas sent Jorja Johnson/JW Johnson out to face Parris Todd/Andrei Daescu to attempt to close out the win.

The Johnsons went 27-2 during the regular season, but Todd/Daescu clutched up to extend the encounter with an 11-8 victory.

With two of the top six-ranked women’s singles players in Parris Todd and Lea Jansen, the Sliders have the singles edge on paper. That helped them win the DreamBreaker in St. Louis, but the Flash turned the tide in San Diego, thanks to Jorja Johnson and Tyra Black collectively outscoring Todd and Jansen 12-5 to help lift Dallas to a 21-18 triumph.

Even though Black was one of the X-factors in Friday’s deciding contest, she says that singles isn’t a regular part of her singles regimen.

“They always make us practice some singles before we get out there and play, but I really don’t like playing singles,” she mentioned. “It’s not worth getting injured for me because I run everything down… I just try and play the least amount of singles that I can.”

Whatever works, right?

Dallas will look to close out Columbus in match two of the series on Saturday night, while the Sliders will attempt to force a deciding match and keep their title hopes alive.