The New Jersey 5s (Anna Leigh Waters, Zane Navratil, Mari Humberg, Will Howells) took the opening match of the Premier level championship series with a DreamBreaker victory over the Dallas Flash (JW Johnson, Jorja Johnson, Tyra Black, Augie Ge).

Both regular season matchups between these squads had finished in regulation, but the 5s and Flash treated the at-capacity crowd at the USTA National Campus to a DreamBreaker finish to kick off Sunday’s action.

As expected, the two juggernauts split the gender doubles games; Waters/Humberg took women’s doubles for New Jersey before Johnson/Ge won men’s doubles for Dallas to even the match.

To start off mixed doubles, the 5s sent out Humberg/Navratil to face the Flash’s top tandem of Johnson/Johnson. Navratil/Humberg had won this matchup at the Mid-Season Tournament, and they nearly did the same on Sunday.

They saved 4 game points to turn a 21-24 deficit into a 26-25 advantage before Johnson/Johnson scored three in a row to escape with a 28-26 triumph and put Dallas up 2-1.

Not deterred by their teammates’ grueling defeat, Waters/Howells dominated Black/Ge in the second mixed doubles game to force a DreamBreaker. ‘

Howells was especially dominant in that bout, making his presence known from every spot on the court as he and Waters jumped out to an astonishing 11-0 lead that was never really threatened as Black/Ge tried to stage a comeback.

The former University of Notre Dame tennis standout mentioned how freeing it is to play with Waters—the consensus best female player in the world—on his side of the net.

“[Anna Leigh] makes it super easy to play confidently,” he said. “Going out there and being able to swing through my shots and trust my game is a big thing for sure.”

Dallas got off to a strong start in the DreamBreaker and led 11-9 at the side switch, thanks to 3-1 rotations from Ge and Jorja Johnson against Navratil and Waters, respectively.

That completely changed after teams switched sides, however.

Navratil and Waters went 4-0 on back-to-back rotations to turn the tide of the contest and give the 5s a 17-11 advantage that they wouldn’t lose.

A few points later, Howells clinched the 21-13 win with a blistering backhand winner to help his team maintain its perfect DreamBreaker record and put New Jersey just one win away from earning the season-ending title.

Navratil isn’t interested in thinking past the next match, though.

“It’s a war of attrition out here,” he explained. “There are runs both ways, and we were fortunate to have a run at the end of that one. The job’s not finished, and we’re all ready to go refocus for the next match. It’s two out of three, and we know they’re gonna come back fired up.”

Dallas will now have to win the next two matches on Sunday afternoon if they want to come back and steal the title from New Jersey’s grasp.