Friday’s best match at the Veolia North Carolina Open was, without question, the men’s doubles quarterfinal between No. 3 seeds Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu and No. 8 seeds Eric Oncins/Dylan Frazier.

Oncins/Frazier overcame a 5-10 deficit in the third game and saved five match to pull off the 11-3, 6-11, 12-10 upset victory over a team that had taken gold in their last three tournaments together.

After Daescu’s final counter went into the net on match point, Oncins threw his paddle to the ground and turned around to celebrate instead of immediately going to the net to shake hands with his opponents.

While Daescu waited for Oncins to finish and eventually shook his hand, Alshon didn’t.

Instead, he gave his new Texas Ranchers teammate the bird, obviously annoyed by the prolonged celebration following a hard-fought contest.

Oncins joined the Ranchers in early March when the Miami Pickleball Club traded him to Texas in exchange for Noe Khlif and cash considerations.

The move left some in the pickleball community scratching their heads, as Khlif had had the better PPA Tour results of the two at the time of the trade.

Since then, though, Oncins has been on an absolute tear. In fact, he and Alix Truong stunned Alshon and Catherine Parenteau just a few weeks ago at the CIBC Texas Open in mixed doubles.

In that match, another three-game thriller, Alshon took issue with the legality of Oncins’ serve.

Alshon played a crucial role in the Ranchers’ run to the playoffs and eventual fourth-place finish in the 2024 season.

Despite having to miss extended time due to injuries and illness, he finished as one of the top players in the Premier level.

Throughout his career—and throughout a blazing start to 2025 during which he has earned 13 PPA medals—Alshon has adopted a sort of alpha or top dog mentality. He takes up a lot of court playing the right side in men’s doubles, and he takes more court than most in mixed.

Most notably, he’s one of the most vocal players in the sport and isn’t afraid to let his opponents—or critics—know when he’s fired up.

That can also be said about Oncins.

And, given his less-than-favorable reactions to his new teammate's celebrations and antics, Alshon may not want to share the court with Oncins when the Major League Pickleball season begins at the end of the month.

Could we see the ‘Tweener King’ request a trade away from Texas ahead of the season's first event? Even if this doesn’t happen, how will the two mesh when playing on the same side of the court?

We’ll get answers to those questions leading up to and during MLP Orlando, which will run April 24-27 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, FL.