Zane Navratil and Will Howells playing men's doubles pickleball.
Zane Navratil and Will Howells competing for the New Jersey 5s at MLP Orlando. Major League Pickleball

LIVE BLOG: The latest news and updates from MLP Orlando

The 2025 Major League Pickleball season kicks off this week at MLP Orlando, where all 16 Premier teams will be in action across four days at the USTA National Campus.

This is the first of ten regular season events that will take place between April and August, and each team will play a total of 25 matches during the regular season before the playoffs.

Broadcast coverage will be available on the Pickleballtv app, which is available for download in the Apple and Android app stores, starting at 10am ET.

Stay tuned for live updates throughout the day.

6:00pm ET: Mixed doubles propels Squeeze to victory over Mad Drops

The Orlando Squeeze (4-1) ended the season's first event in their home state with a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Mad Drops (1-2).

After teams split the gender doubles matchups with Los Angeles taking women's and Orlando winning men's, the pairings of Lacy Schneemann/Federico Staksrud and Samantha Parker/Dylan Frazier each won their mixed doubles match to close out the contest in regulation.

Orlando will be in action next week at MLP Columbus, while Los Angeles won't take the court again until MLP Phoenix, set to run May 29-June 1.

4:55pm ET: Sliders, Ranchers end weekend with regulation victories

The Columbus Sliders and Texas Ranchers closed out their Orlando schedules with regulation victories on Grandstand Court.

Columbus picked up their third and fourth straight wins over the Utah Black Diamonds and Miami Pickleball Club, respectively to improve to 4-2 on the year.

 

Texas then defeated the Chicago Slice 3-1 to improve to 3-1 after falling to Columbus on Saturday.

The Sliders will be back in action next week at MLP Columbus, while the Ranchers will return to action at MLP Austin, which is set to run May 23-26.

4:00pm ET: 5s outlast short-handed Mad Drops in DreamBreaker

The New Jersey 5s kept their undefeated record alive with a DreamBreaker victory over the Los Angeles Mad Drops in what should go down as one of the best matches of the weekend at the USTA National Campus.

The Mad Drops weren’t at full strength with AJ Koller filling in for Hunter Johnson, but they came out firing as Catherine Parenteau/Jade Kawamoto stunned Anna Leigh Waters/Meghan Dizon to open the contest.

Will Howells/Zane Navratil got New Jersey back on track with a tightly contested victory over Koller/Quang Duong in men’s doubles, before the teams went on to split the mixed doubles matches to bring on the day’s second DreamBreaker on Toray Championship Court.

As the designated home team in this matchup, Los Angeles had the advantage of being able to react to New Jersey’s DreamBreaker lineup. They chose to stack the lineup and have Parenteau play against Navratil and Koller play against Waters.

It’s a move that didn’t pay off in the end, despite a furious comeback attempt from the Mad Drops.

 

New Jersey took the win by a 21-19 score line, helped in large part by Navratil outscoring Parenteau 9-3 through three rotations.

This was the first meeting between Waters and Parenteau since their split rocked the pickleball world earlier this month.

Waters spoke about the extra emotions that came with Sunday’s matchup.

“That women’s match was tough. Catherine came out here with something to prove. I felt like I was a little too nice and just paid the price for it,” she mentioned. “[Catherine] was being super aggressive and playing very well, and then Will and Zane were able to bounce back and give us some energy.”

Los Angeles will go right back to work when they face the Orlando Squeeze in the second half of their back-to-back, while New Jersey will rest up for an event-closing clash against the St. Louis Shock.

1:35pm ET: New Jersey 5s v. Los Angeles Mad Drops: Starting lineups and matchups released

The New Jersey 5s will look to remain undefeated when they take on the Los Angeles Mad Drops on Sunday.

New Jersey brings a perfect 4-0 record into this matchup, while the Mad Drops are fresh off a season-opening regulation victory over the Miami Pickleball Club.

This encounter will also feature Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau facing off the first time since their partnership came to an end earlier this month after falling in the final of the Veolia North Carolina Open.

Here are the individual matchups for the contest:

1:30pm ET:  Shock start 2025 campaign with DreamBreaker victory over Brooklyn

The St. Louis Shock earned a DreamBreaker triumph over the Brooklyn Pickleball Team in the first match of the day on Toray Championship Court.

St. Louis—who finished in third place in 2024—came out firing and took both gender doubles matches with wins from Anna Bright/Kate Fahey and Hayden Patriquin/Gabe Tardio.

Mixed doubles is where things got complicated.

In 2024, St. Louis went with the pairings of Bright/Patriquin and Fahey/Tardio. They switched it up to start off 2025, but they didn’t see that decision pay off in their first match.

Brooklyn’s pairings of Jackie Kawamoto/Riley Newman and Rachel Rohrabacher/Dekel Bar beat Fahey/Patriquin and Bright/Tardio, respectively, to send the match to a DreamBreaker.

In that deciding contest, however, the Shock got back to their winning ways.

Tardio and Patriquin were the X-factors for St. Louis; Tardio outscored Bar 8-3 through three rotations, and Patriquin outscored Newman 7-1 through two rotations.

That gave the Shock a big enough cushion to ultimately win by a 21-14 score line.

 

Perhaps the biggest storylines of this match was that it was Bright and Rohrabacher’s first time squaring off since news broke that Bright would be playing PPA Tour events with Anna Leigh Waters for the rest of 2025 after having played with Rohrabacher since the start of 2024.

Bright spoke about the nerves that came with facing her old partner.

“It wasn’t easy, and I definitely didn’t sleep that well last night,” she mentioned. “There’s a lot to think about, and we both really want to win. This was also our first match of the season, so we had some extra nerves going in. I’m just really happy that the team was able to carry me in the DreamBreaker.”

Brooklyn will leave the Sunshine State after going 2-3 through five matches, while St. Louis will take on the New Jersey 5s later Sunday afternoon in the final match of the weekend.

1:20pm ET: Chicago Slice v. Texas Ranchers: Starting lineups and matchups released

The Chicago Slice will face the Texas Ranchers in what will be the final match of the weekend for both teams.

Both squads will be looking to rebound from defeats in their most recent matches, with Chicago having lost to the Dallas Flash earlier on Sunday and Texas having fallen to the Columbus Sliders on Saturday.

Here are the individual matchups for the contest:

11:40am ET: Columbus Sliders v. Utah Black Diamonds: Starting lineups and matchups released

The Columbus Sliders will go for their third straight win when they face the Utah Black Diamonds Sunday morning.

The Sliders seem to find their groove after back-to-back victories over the Carolina Hogs and Texas Ranchers, while Utah is looking to get into the 'Win' column for the first time in 2025.

Here are the individual matchups for the contest:

11:25am ET: Flash sweep Slice to end flawless Orlando campaign

The Dallas Flash closed out their impressive run in the Sunshine State with a 4-0 victory over the Chicago Slice.

The defending champs will leave Orlando with a perfect 4-0 record, with all of their wins coming in regulation.


Jorja Johnson was especially impressive throughout the weekend, as she didn't drop any of her eight individual matches.

While Dallas is finished, Chicago has one more match against the Texas Ranchers scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

10:50am ET: Brooklyn Pickleball Team v. St. Louis Shock: Starting lineups and matchups released

The Brooklyn Pickleball Team and St. Louis Shock will square off in the day's first bout on Toray Championship Court.

Brooklyn is coming off two wins on Saturday over the Miami Pickleball Club and Orlando Squeeze, while St. Louis is playing in their first match of the 2025 season.

This will be the first time that former women's doubles partners Anna Bright (STL) and Rachel Rohrabacher (BKN) have faced off since news broke that Bright would be playing the rest of 2025 with Anna Leigh Waters on the PPA Tour.

There is a bound to be some extra energy in the air when they're on the court together.

Here are the individual matchups for the contest:

9:55am ET: Dallas Flash v. Chicago Slice: Starting lineups and matchups released

The Dallas Flash will face the Chicago Slice to open Sunday's action at the USTA National Campus.

Dallas boasts a perfect 3-0 record, while Sunday's clash will be Chicago's first of the season.

Here are the individual matchups for the contest:

Sunday's Order of Play released

Here is the Order of Play for the eight matches being played on Sunday:

 

Related articles

Genie Bouchard in a light brown set

Best dressed at the Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships 

Fashion is my favorite part of the game.

15 hours ago

-
Anna Leigh Waters celebrates a point playing pickleball singles.

Waters overcomes challenge from Fahey to secure women’s singles gold, Triple Crown

Anna Leigh Waters secured her 34th career PPA Triple Crown after a hard-fought match against Kate Fahey.

1 day ago

-
Ben Johns hitting a pickleball forehand.

Johns outduels Garnett in three-game epic for men’s singles gold

It was a battle that certainly warranted the emotional response we saw from Johns after clinching the win.

1 day ago

-
Anna Bright and Anna Leigh Waters celebrate a point in women's doubles.

Waters, Bright power past Parenteau, Rohrabacher for first title since 2023

Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright struck gold in their first tournament back playing together.

1 day ago

-