Will Howells and Zane Navratil celebrate a point for the New Jerey 5s at the MLP Orlando Playoffs.
Will Howells and Zane Navratil staged an epic comeback to capture a win in men's doubles. Major League Pickleball

New Jersey surges into Premier final with second sweep of Texas

The New Jersey 5s became the first team to book their spot in the Premier level finals after their second straight 3-0 victory over the Texas Ranchers.

Like they did in Friday's opening contest, Anna Leigh Waters/Mari Humberg got New Jersey on the board first with a victory over the Ranchers’ Etta Wright/Tina Pisnik in women’s doubles.

It looked like Christian Alshon/Quang Duong would give Texas its first win of the series when they jumped out to a 17-9 lead in men’s doubles, but Zane Navratil/Will Howells stormed back and took the tightly contested encounter 25-23.

There were some chippy moments between Howells and Alshon in that contest, with both players targeting each other out of the air at certain moments, but Howells downplayed the situation afterwards.

 

“Christian and I have known each other for a long time,” he said. “We’re very competitive, but we’re friends off the court, so it’s all good.”

With a 2-0 advantage after gender doubles, Waters/Howells took down Pisnik/Duong 25-20 in the first mixed doubles game to clinch the match—and the series—for New Jersey.

 

Navratil raved about the raucous crowd at the USTA National Campus that only contributed to the electrifying environment in Central Florida.

“There’s nothing else like it, really,” he mentioned. “You can’t get this fired up in any other atmosphere. The fans are cheering every single point, and we don’t care if they’re cheering for us or against us. As long as they’re making some noise, we love it.”

The 5s know they’ll be taking the court at 10am ET on Sunday to fight for the title, but they don’t yet know who they’ll face.

That will be decided as the Dallas Flash and St. Louis Shock finish their series later Saturday afternoon. Dallas leads 1-0 after their victory on Friday.