Christian Alshon playing pickleball.
Christian Alshon competing for the Texas Ranchers at MLP Atlanta. Major League Pickleball

Texas sweeps Carolina in Alshon’s return to MLP competition

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The Texas Ranchers are into the quarterfinals of the MLP Mid-Season Tournament after a decisive 3-0 victory over the Carolina Pickleball Club early Thursday afternoon.

The match looked a lot different than the teams’ previous encounter at last month’s MLP event in the nation’s capital, where Carolina won in a DreamBreaker.

There was one key difference for the Ranchers on Thursday: their first-round draft pick, Christian Alshon. The 24-year-old missed the D.C. event with an illness, but his presence was fully felt in this matchup.

The match began like it did last time, with Texas’ Etta Wright and Tina Pisnik comfortably earning the women’s doubles point over Carolina’s Andrea Koop and Jessie Irvine.

The proceeding men’s doubles duel could go down as the match of the day, as Alshon and the newly acquired Quang Duong upset Ben and Collin Johns 28-26.

Alshon—who typically plays the left side in men’s doubles—put forth a masterclass in aggressive right-side play, using his reach to poach off of Duong’s drives on multiple occasions.

Both teams had multiple opportunities to end the game, but Texas eventually pulled it out thanks, in part, to some untimely kitchen violations from Collin Johns when pushing off to hit overheads.

Alshon raved about how the 18-year-old Duong is fully taking advantage of his opportunity to break through at the Premier level.

“The amazing thing about MLP is that you get a chance to play with some top players,” he explained. “In PPA, it’s really hard to break into the top ten doubles teams. But in MLP, you’re given an opportunity to play with the top players in different events, and that’s huge for up-and-coming players to break into that top group. It happened to me with Riley Newman when I had my chance to show that I was worthy of being a top player, and it’s happening with Quang right now.”

With a 2-0 lead, Alshon and Wright returned to the court to face Irvine and B. Johns. Trailing 20-24, they reeled off six consecutive points to steal the win and put a bow on the 3-0 victory.

 

The Ranchers will face in-state rival Dallas Flash in the quarterfinals on Friday, while Carolina moves to the consolation bracket.