Miami earns semifinal berth with DreamBreaker triumph over Pandas
It’s official: the Miami Pickleball Club will join the Chicago Slice and SoCal Hard Eights in Orlando for a shot at the Challenger level crown.
They accomplished the feat with a DreamBreaker victory over the Frisco Pandas, their second win of the afternoon over the No. 6 seeds.
Noe Khlif picked up two wins for Miami to force the DreamBreaker, winning in men’s doubles with Eric Oncins and mixed doubles with Bobbi Oshiro.
He and Oncins went 2-0 against Frisco’s Michael Loyd/Stefan Auvergne on the day, a welcome result after losing that matchup in their final regular season encounter.
“We played [Michael and Stefan] last week, and we knew what we had to change,” Khlif said of Friday’s men’s doubles wins. “We had some very good practice focusing on what we wanted to implement in that matchup, and we came out with good energy from the first match that helped the whole team.”
In the DreamBreaker, however, it was Miami’s women who shined.
Milan Rane and Bobbi Oshiro combined to outscore the Pandas’ Ewa Radzikowska and Tammy Emmrich 12-4 in singles to help Miami cruise to a 21-11 triumph.
Rane scored the final point to secure Miami’s promotion to the Premier level in 2025.
“I had to bring out my inner Eric, since he’s known for finishing our DreamBreakers,” she explained. “I struggled in my two matches before, so I knew I had to come out swinging for my team.”
After a successful business trip out to Texas, Miami will have a break until the MLP Orlando Playoffs, set to run Nov. 22-24 at the USTA National Campus.
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