Waters, Parenteau dominate en route to final
OVERLAND PARK, KS - Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau are through to Championship Sunday in women’s doubles without facing a game point, a feat they’ve accomplished numerous times so far this year.
In the semifinals, they bested No. 10 seeds Jorja Johnson and Mari Humberg 11-2, 11-6.
One of the interesting dynamics of the match was that it pit Waters up against her Major League Pickleball teammate in Humberg; both players compete at the Premier level for the New Jersey 5s.
Thus, Waters had to carefully consider how much strategic insight to give her PPA partner about her MLP partner.
“It’s tough because [Mari’s] on my team, so I didn’t want to tell Catherine [who plays for the Los Angeles Mad Drops] all of her secrets, but I had to tell her enough so that we could get through this match,” she mentioned.
The top seeds were able to comfortably stop Humberg and Johnson’s impressive run, which included wins against No. 6 seeds Lea Jansen and Tina Pisnik and No. 3 seeds Callie Smith and Allyce Jones.
Waters and Parenteau are now 97-1 together at PPA events, with their lone defeat coming at the hands of Anna Bright and Rachel Rohrabacher at the Austin Open back in March.
They will face the winner of the second semifinal between No. 2 seeds Meghan Dizon and Etta Wright and No. 5 seeds Lacy Schneemann and Jade Kawamoto for the title.
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