MLP Virginia Beach is officially in the books, and boy was it a busy event.

Every Challenger team played at least six matches over four days in what constituted a significant chunk of the regular season.

Here’s a look at the most up-to-date standings, organized by average points earned per match.

Let’s get into a few of my takeaways from the event.

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1. Miami, SoCal, and Chicago continue to set the pace

These three squads were already leading the pack going into Virginia Beach, and now it’s even more clear that they are the teams to beat in the Challenger tier.

Each one is carried by two strong gender doubles pairings, which are listed below (as well as their records from this past weekend).

• Men’s Doubles:
•                      Miami Pickleball Club: Noe Khlif and Eric Oncins (4-2)
•                      SoCal Hard Eights: Erik Lange and Max Manthou (5-2)
•                      Chicago Slice: Jack Munro and Brendon Long (5-2)
• Women’s Doubles:
•                      Miami Pickleball Club: Milan Rane and Bobbi Oshiro (4-2)
•                      SoCal Hard Eights: Yana Newell and Irina Tereschenko (5-2)
•                      Chicago Slice: Megan Fudge and Allison Harris (6-1)
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Something to note here is that most of these pairings have at least one player that wasn’t picked in the draft back in April and was added off of waivers later in the season: Khlif and Oshiro for Miami, Newell for SoCal, and Fudge for Chicago.

These pickups should continue to help these teams stay near the top of the standings as the season rages on.

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2. Atlanta struggles in gender doubles, shines in mixed

The Atlanta Bouncers, on the other hand, had strong showings in mixed doubles after lackluster results in gender doubles.

New additions Susannah Barr and Emily Cederquist went 0-6 together on the weekend, while Jaume Martinez Vich and Todd Fought didn’t do much better at 2-4.

Something clicked in mixed, though, as the pairings of Martinez Vich and Barr and Fought and Cederquist went 6-0 and 4-2 together, respectively.

That mixed doubles prowess helped Atlanta leave Virginia Beach with a 3-3 record, still comfortably in fourth place in the standings.

If Cederquist and Barr (who won a 2023 Challenger title together for Chicago) can figure out how to win together again, the Bouncers will be even more dangerous than they already are.

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3. Bay Area brings it

The Bay Area Breakers made the biggest jump of the weekend, going from 1.31 pts/match to 1.50 that resulted in a move from eighth place to fifth place in the standings.

Jill Braverman was the X-factor for the Breakers, finishing with a 10-4 record after going 5-2 with both Allyce Jones in women’s doubles and Martin Emmrich in mixed.

After a disappointing midseason slump that was plagued by roster turnover, Bay Area has once again proven itself to be a legitimate contender and will be a tough out going forward.

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4. Men’s doubles an issue for Las Vegas

Just as Bay Area had one of the best weekends in Virginia Beach, the Las Vegas Night Owls had one of the worst.

Their 3-4 record isn’t that bad (and is better than California’s 1-5 mark), but it brought their average points per match down from 1.62 to 1.40.

That kicks them to seventh place in the standings, meaning that they would miss the playoffs if the season ended today.

Judit Castillo and Zoey Wang performed well together—as they have all season—with a 5-2 record, but the men's doubles pairing of Rafa Hewett and Blaine Hovenier went 0-7.

That, combined with middling performances in mixed doubles, led to Hewett and Hovenier finishing at the bottom of the player standings from the event with 3-11 and 2-12 records, respectively.

Las Vegas will need better play from the men’s side to get back into playoff position.

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Be on the lookout for potential roster changes during this week’s Waiver Period 3. Challenger waivers will take place on Thursday after Premier waivers conclude on Wednesday.