Max Manthou playing pickleball.
Max Manthou competing for the SoCal Hard Eights at MLP Atlanta. Major League Pickleball

Hard Eights outlast Slice to make quarterfinals

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The SoCal Hard Eights are moving on to the quarterfinals of the MLP Mid-Season Tournament after a DreamBreaker victory over the Chicago Slice.

The match was a true back-and-forth affair, as the teams alternated wins throughout the four doubles games.

Coming into the match, neither team had won a DreamBreaker yet this season; SoCal sat at 0-3, while Chicago was 0-2.

The Hard Eights—featuring Erik Lange, Irina Tereschenko, Max Manthou, and the newly acquired Yana Newell, better handled that pressure, and benefitted from the especially impressive singles play of Manthou and Tereschenko.

Manthou and Tereschenko earned 5-3 advantages through two rotations over Megan Fudge and Brendon Long, respectively, which created enough separation to secure the 21-16 triumph in the deciding contest.

 

SoCal will next face the top-seeded Las Vegas Night Owls in the quarterfinals, while Chicago moves down to the consolation bracket where it will play the loser of the match between the Brooklyn Aces and Miami Pickleball Club.