The New York Hustlers got back on track in their home state with a 3-1 victory over the D.C. Pickleball Team early Friday afternoon.

Jack Sock and CJ Klinger set the tone in men’s doubles, picking up a thrilling 29-27 victory over D.C.’s James Ignatowich and Dekel Bar.

One of the keys for the duo was relying less on third shot drives and trying to win their points up at the kitchen line.

“[James and Dekel] are obviously a couple of bigger, stronger guys, and driving doesn’t really do much to them because they can swat the ball away pretty easily,” Sock shared. “So, we tried to play more conventional pickleball at the kitchen and just wait for our time to be aggressive.”

That win gave the hometown favorites the momentum they needed to take both the proceeding women’s doubles game and the first mixed doubles game to clinch the regulation victory.

It’s a strong response from the Hustlers after a disappointing regulation loss to the Utah Black Diamonds on Thursday.

Energy played a key role in Friday’s triumph.

“We didn’t bring such great energy yesterday, so we really wanted to go hard in this one, and it turned out well,” said Lea Jansen, who won with Jackie Kawamoto in women’s doubles and Sock in mixed. “Just a single point here and there makes a difference, so if you’re not locked in the whole time, that can affect you.”

The Hustlers will return to action on Saturday night when they face their interstate rivals, the New Jersey 5s.