LIVE BLOG: Friday's results and news from MLP Virginia Beach
It's Day 2 at MLP Virginia Beach, and I've got all the latest updates from this exciting Challenger-only event.
Check back here throughout the day, as this article will be modified as results come in.
You can watch the action for yourself on the MLP YouTube, starting at 9am EST.
5:00 p.m. ET: Play suspended for the rest of the day and will resume Friday morning.
4:00 p.m. ET: Play stopped due to rain.
3:45 p.m. ET: Breakers improve to 3-0 in Virginia Beach with win over Miami
The Bay Area Breakers continued their strong start to the weekend with a 3-1 victory over the Miami Pickleball Club.
They came out of the gate firing and dominated both gender doubles matches by double digits before Jill Braverman and Martin Emmrich took the first mixed doubles contest over Bobbi Oshiro and Noe Khlif to secure the win.
Braverman and Emmrich have played especially well so far Bay Area, boasting a combined 11-1 game record through three matches. Emmrich, who is playing his first event with the squad after being added during Waiver Period 2, gave credit to the team for already helping him improve.
“It’s an unmatched energy, and the team atmosphere has been amazing,” he shared. “I have to give a lot of credit to Scott Crandall (Bay Area’s coach) and Allyce Jones for helping my dinking and footwork. I feel like a new player in the kitchen.”
The Breakers will look to improve to 4-0 in Virginia Beach when they face the Atlanta Bouncers on Saturday morning.
2:55 p.m. ET: Aces end skid with victory over Hard Eights
The Brooklyn Aces earned a regulation victory over the SoCal Hard Eights Friday afternoon for their first team victory since the Mid-Season Tournament.
The Aces had dropped their last seven matches since that point, but they’re now back in the “win” column.
Lina Padegimaite and Layne Sleeth dropped the opening women’s doubles match to SoCal’s Yana Newell and Irina Tereschenko, but they rebounded nicely in mixed as Brooklyn took the next three games.
Just as one losing streak ends, we might be seeing the beginnings of another one; SoCal dropped both of its matches on Friday after having previously win 12 in a row.
Both teams will be back in action Saturday, with the Aces taking on the California Black Bears and Bay Area Breakers and the Hard Eights facing the Las Vegas Night Owls.
2:25 p.m. ET: Play resumes.
2:00 p.m. ET: Play stopped due to rain.
1:10 p.m. ET: Play resumes.
12:55 p.m. ET: Play stopped due to rain.
12:35 p.m ET: Incredible comeback helps Bouncers secure first win
It looked like the Atlanta Bouncers would lose their match against the California Black Bears on multiple occasions.
That outcome first appeared likely when they dropped both gender doubles matches.
The mixed doubles pairings of Jaume Martinez Vich and Susannah Barr and Todd Fought and Emily Cederquist, however, secured both mixed doubles wins to force a DreamBreaker.
The Bouncers again appeared to be dead in the water trailing 11-20 in that deciding contest, but they would not go down easily.
Carried by strong rotations from Martinez Vich and Fought against Chris Haworth and Brandon French, respectively—as well as match point saves by Cederquist and Barr—the Bouncers pulled off an unprecedented comeback and stole the win, 22-20.
Atlanta is now 1-1 in Virginia Beach, and they’ll look to get above .500 later Friday afternoon when they face the Las Vegas Night Owls.
11:30 a.m. ET: Night Owls outlast Aces as Brooklyn's DreamBreaker struggles continue
The Las Vegas Night Owls kicked off Friday’s Grandstand Court action with a DreamBreaker victory over the Brooklyn Aces.
When these two teams faced off at last week’s MLP New York City, the Night Owls dominated the DreamBreaker by a 21-5 score line.
Friday’s contest was much more competitive.
Trailing 14-18, Blaine Hovenier and Rafa Hewett secured back-to-back 3-1 rotations against Daniel de la Rosa and Pablo Tellez, respectively, to tie things up at 20-20.
From there, Judit Castillo took the next two points against Lina Padegimaite to close it out.
Hewett—despite being the only member of the team to save a match point in the DreamBreaker—credited his teammates with the win.
“Everybody had my back today,” he said. “I was a little down because I failed to bring home wins in men’s and mixed, but in the DreamBreaker everyone came up clutch. At the end of the day, it comes down to if you have that dog in you, and I think we’ve all got that.”
The past few weeks have been rough for Brooklyn. They’re 0-7 since the start of MLP New York City, with five of those losses coming in DreamBreakers.
The Aces will look to get back on track against the SoCal Hard Eights later on Friday, while the Night Owls will look to improve to 3-0 when they take on the Atlanta Bouncers.
10:55 a.m. ET: Chicago sweeps Hard Eights to end SoCal's winning streak at 12
The Chicago Slice improved to 2-1 in Virginia Beach on Friday morning with a 4-0 sweep of the SoCal Hard Eights.
And they ended SoCal’s 12-match winning streak while doing it.
The Hard Eights took this matchup in a DreamBreaker the last time these teams played in Kansas City (when Martin Emmrich was filling in for Jack Munro for Chicago), but the Slice left no doubt in this one.
They started off with wins in both gender doubles matches, as Munro and Brendon Long improved to 7-1 in their last eight matches together.
That momentum carried Chicago to two victories in mixed doubles to complete the sweep over the team currently at the top of the Challenger level standings.
The Slice will be back in action on Friday afternoon against the Brooklyn Aces.
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