Mark Molthan might have to rethink his opinion of San Diego. 

The Dallas Flash co-owner and GM told Pickleballtv’s Ireland Horvat that he has had “some bad dreams about this place for the last year and that team we played.” 

‘That team’ refers to the Columbus Sliders, who the Flash chose to play in the playoff quarterfinals at Barnes Tennis Center in 2025. 

The Sliders stunned Dallas in a thrilling three-match series, a result that gave birth to their ‘chosen ones’ nickname and kicked off what would become a memorable championship run for Columbus. 

Eleven months later, the two squads faced off once again in San Diego, this time for the Super Sunday Belt and the 25 standings points that come with it. 

Both teams entered the contest on the heels of undefeated group play campaigns; Dallas had stunned the Los Angeles Mad Drops in a DreamBreaker on Saturday, while Columbus had rolled through their group with a perfect 20-0 game record. 

But that prior dominance didn’t help the defending champions on Sunday, as Dallas got their revenge with a 3-1 victory. 

The Sliders struck first in women’s doubles as Parris Todd/Tyra Black secured their 8th win in a row, but the Flash stormed back to take the next three games—including both mixed doubles contests—to earn their first Super Sunday belt of the season. 

It’s only fitting that the final match came down to Dallas’ Danni-Elle Townsend/Augie Ge taking on Columbus’ Tyra Black/CJ Klinger. 

Townsend and Black, of course, were exchanged between the two teams in a blockbuster trade last month. 

And it was Townsend and Ge who triumphed 11-4 to improve to 11-2 as a partnership. 

“I think there was a little tension coming into this tournament. We wanted to make a final, and we got there, and we got the job done, so I’m pretty happy with our performance,” Townsend said afterwards. 

The Sliders have now played their final regular season event and will now to have wait and see if they did well enough to secure a top-4 finish in the standings and a first-round bye in the playoffs; the Flash will close out their regular season next week at MLP Chicago. 

Here are the final standings from San Diego: 

1. 1. Dallas Flash: 25 points 

1. 2. Columbus Sliders: 18 points 

1. 3. Atlanta Bouncers: 15 points 

1. 4. SoCal Hard Eights: 12 points 

1. 5. Los Angeles Mad Drops: 10 points 

1. 6. California Black Bears: 8 points 

1. 7. Orlando Squeeze: 6 points 

1. 8. Bay Area Breakers: 4 points 

1. 9. Utah Black Diamonds: 1 point 

1. 10. Phoenix Flames: 1 point 

1. 11. Florida Smash: 0 points

The penultimate regular season event, MLP Chicago, begins Thursday July 23 and will run through July 26 at Life Time North Shore. 

Buy tickets here, and catch all the action on Pickleballtv.