KAYSVILLE, UT - The Columbus Sliders earned their first victory in Utah early Saturday afternoon against the AZ Drive.

Columbus has two new faces on its roster competing alongside Riley Newman and Meghan Dizon: Andrea Koop and Jay Devilliers, who the team acquired earlier this week in trades with the Carolina Pickleball Club and Utah Black Diamonds.

After splitting the two gender doubles games—where Columbus won men’s doubles and Arizona won women’s doubles—attention turned to the mixed.

That’s where the Sliders shined.

Both mixed doubles matches were highly competitive, back-and-forth affairs into their latter stages, but the pairings of Dizon and Devilliers and Koop and Newman pulled away at the end to clinch the regulation victory. 

Devilliers, who picked up two wins in this contest, seems to be finding his groove playing with his new teammates.

“Thursday was my first time playing with Riley, and I feel like we’ve figured things out through some tough matches so far,” he said. “We’re very happy with the way we pulled this one out. The job’s not done, so we’ve got to keep pushing.”

Columbus will next face the Los Angeles Mad Drops later Saturday afternoon, while Arizona’s next match will be against the Texas Ranchers Saturday evening.