SALT LAKE CITY, UT - Day 1 of MLP Salt Lake City is in the books.

As is typical for MLP, there were some big surprises to go along with exciting play.

 

The indoor facility looked really good on TV, although they could use some more stands to accommodate a bigger crowd.

 

Let’s go over the hits from the day, and the misses.

 

 

1. Andrei is back. Arizona welcomed the return of Andrei Daescu. He went 3-1 on the day, with AZ racking up two 3-1 victories, over LA and Orlando. That will move AZ up the standings nicely. Daescu looked like his usual self, and ready to play.

 

2. Dallas with a huge win. The most anticipated match of the day (if not the whole event) was a Dallas/NJ rematch. NJ won the last one, so Dallas was looking for revenge. Dallas got it, with a 3-1 win. JW Johnson led the way with two wins. Tyra Black and Augie Ge got the all important third point with a 25-23 thriller in mixed, over Anna Leigh Waters and Will Howells. That win put Dallas in first place, albeit temporarily.

 

3. LA with the upset of the year. LA, missing Thomas Wilson, lost as expected to AZ. They came back later to face Dallas is what was a mismatch on paper. But LA not only pulled out the upset victory, they did so 4-0! Subbing in for Wilson, Blaine Hovenier won both his matches. This result shows the unpredictability of MLP; on any given day, any team can win or lose.

 

4. Mari gets some love. Mari Humberg was the talk of the commentators, as they gave her compliment after compliment on her play (deservedly so). They claimed she was an unknown; of course, those of us who closely follow pro pickleball have known about Humberg for a long time (and had her as a Premier pick all the way in our mock drafts). Humberg ended the day in first place in the player standings.

 

 

1. New Columbus, same as old Columbus. Columbus entered the day with two new players. But, a team that seemed to have such promise at the start of the year, was unable to change their mojo. Columbus fell 3-1 to NJ, and 3-2 to Orlando. Getting only one point in two matches is no way to make the playoffs. Meghan Dizon got to play right side in her women’s match, where she is more comfortable, but continued her sub-standard play. She was outplayed, clearly outplayed, by Challenger player Milan Rane, who was filling in for Vivienne David. When you have one player out of four playing at a Challenger level on a Premier team, it is very hard to succeed. Andrea Koop was not much help, as both Dizon and Koop finished in the bottom three of individual player standings.

 

2. The inconsistency of Dallas. Dallas had the big win over NJ, and then followed it with a huge loss to LA. Dallas is just unexplainable. They will make the playoffs, and once there they are capable of winning it all. They are equally capable of losing in the first round. Rooting for Dallas is a surefire path to grey hair.

 

We are back at it on Friday with a full slate of nine matches.

Look for more unpredictable results, Dreambreaker excitement, and excellent play.

 

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