Flash fight back, sweep Hustlers to force Match 3
Just like the Texas Ranchers did earlier in the day against the DC Pickleball Team, the Dallas Flash kept their season alive with a 3-0 sweep of the New York Hustlers.
The match began with men’s doubles, where the Flash’s JW Johnson/Augie Ge faced off against the Hustlers’ Jack Sock/CJ Klinger in what very well may go down as the game of the weekend.
Dallas threatened to take it when they earned a 24-21 lead, but New York came back to tie it at 24.
From there, the two tandems traded blows one point at a time, but neither could close it out. After a combined 13(!) match points saved by both sides, Johnson and Ge closed it out 37-35 to get Dallas on the board first and energize their hometown crowd.
“I think all of us blacked out for like 20 points collectively, but we were super fortunate to get it there in the end,” Ge said of the encounter. “Once we got that one and the crowd really got behind us, we knew it was going to be a huge hill for New York to climb.”
Dallas carried that momentum into women’s doubles, where Jorja Johnson/Hurricane Tyra Black bested Jackie Kawamoto/Lea Jansen 25-21 to open up a 2-0 lead.
With victory in sight, Ge/Black dispatched Sock/Jansen 25-16 to seal the deal and send the series to a deciding Match 3 later on Sunday night.
That contest will take place after Match 3 between DC and Texas, with the winners moving on to the semifinals in Orlando.
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