The Columbus Sliders won the 2025 Major League Pickleball Premier Level Finals on Sunday evening with a best-of-three series win over the New Jersey 5s.

We've been updating this live blog all weekend with results, analysis and quotes from players. We will have more coverage on TheKitchenPickle.com in the coming days. 

Major League Pickleball Premier Level Finals

No. 5 Columbus Sliders def. No. 3 New Jersey 5s 2-3, 3-2, 3-1

Match 1 -- New Jersey def. Columbus 3-2: This one was a back-and-forth battle, with plenty of momentum swings and Dreambreaker drama.

The New Jersey 5s duo of Anna Leigh Waters/Meghan Dizon came out on fire and rolled to an 11-2 win in women's doubles over Lea Jansen/Parris Todd. As expected, most of the crowd seemed to be behind the 5s, and they used that energy to their advantage at the start. Waters and Dizon have now won their past 21 women's doubles games and haven't lost since May 25.

But as we've seen for the entirety of Columbus' playoff run, the men's team of Andrei Daescu/CJ Klinger were the momentum stoppers. They got off to a great start against Noe Khlif/Will Howells, weathered a run from the 5s in the middle of the game, and ultimately won 11-6 to even the score heading into mixed doubles.

Daescu/Klinger were good but not great in the regular season, going 16-8 (66.67%) together. In the playoffs they are now 6-0 and have been dominant, with wins of 11-4, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8, 11-2, 11-6 in that stretch.

The 5s took back control of the match in the first mixed game. When they made a trade for Khlif at the trade deadline and inserted him into the starting lineup over Zane Navratil, it seemed to be mostly with the goal of improving the mixed line with Dizon. Navratil and Howells were 13-7 at the time, so men's doubles wasn't a big problem. But Navratil/Dizon were just 7-10 and a clear weakness for the team at the time.

The trade paid off in a big way on Saturday, as Khlif/Dizon beat Jansen/Klinger 11-4 to give the 5s a 2-1 lead in the match.

But Daescu/Todd continued their stretch of incredible play in the second mixed game. In the Dallas series last weekend, it was Columbus' top mixed team that propelled the Sliders with two wins over JW Johnson and Jorja Johnson (the best mixed team in the league this season and the No. 2 mixed team on the PPA Tour). It was a similar story on Saturday, as Daescu/Todd beat New Jersey's top mixed line of Waters/Howells 11-2 to force a Dreambreaker.

In the Dreambreaker the momentum swung back to the 5s at the start, with Will Howells getting New Jersey out to a 4-0 start in his head-to-head matchup with Andrei Daescu. Howells and Daescu split the rest of the way, giving Howells the 8-4 advantage in the end, but it was Dizon who got arguably the biggest points for the 5s in the Dreambreaker.

Dizon doesn't play singles often on the PPA Tour and was matched up against Jansen, who is the No. 5 ranked women's singles player on tour this season. But in their head-to-head in Match 1 on Saturday, Dizon came out ahead 5-3 -- a big reason New Jersey ultimately prevailed 21-17.

Match 2 -- Columbus def. New Jersey 3-2: This match had tons of drama, tense moments and a controversial line call that ended up not having an impact on the final result.

It was basically a replay of Match 1 in gender doubles, with Waters/Dizon beating Jansen/Todd 11-1 and Daescu/Klinger answering with an 11-6 win over Howells/Khlif to even the score.

But things got very tense in the first mixed matchup between Khlif/Dizon and Klinger/Jansen. New Jersey was up 9-5 at one point, but Columbus charged back to even the score at 10-10. With Columbus serving, there was a close ball on the baseline that the Sliders called out. The out call would have given Columbus an 11-10 lead, but New Jersey challenged.

The replay appeared to be missing a frame and didn't show the moment the ball touched the ground, but it was very close. The refs ultimately overturned the call, ruling the ball "in" and giving New Jersey the ball back and 10-10. They would go on to win and hand the ball to Anna Leigh Waters and Will Howells with a chance to close it out for the title.

Here's an attempt to re-create the trajectory of the ball, which is what the refs are looking at when there is a missing frame. The ball that is just to the right of the baseline is on its way up after hitting the ground. The video review referee ultimately put the green dot indicating an in ruling right on the back of the line.

The call didn't end up mattering, though, because Daescu/Todd came up clutch in mixed doubles with another win over Waters/Howells to force a Dreambreaker, which Columbus won 21-15.

This time everybody on the Sliders performed slightly better than their opponents.

Daescu 6-5 over Howells
Klinger 6-3 over Khlif
Todd 4-4 vs. Waters
Jansen 5-3 over Dizon

Match 3 -- Columbus def. New Jersey 3-1: Women's doubles was again a blowout -- 11-4 -- as Waters/Dizon won their 23rd straight game to finish the season. They ended up 29-3 together on the year.

It was also the same story in men's doubles, with Daescu/Klinger putting the finishing touches on a perfect 8-0 record in the playoffs with an 11-7 win over Noe Khlif/Will Howells.

But things got interesting again in the first mixed doubles matchup. Noe Khlif/Meghan Dizon had won the first two games against CJ Klinger/Lea Jansen, but a quick start gave Columbus a leg up this time, and they rode that momentum all the way to an 11-4 win, giving Daescu/Todd the chance to close it out in regulation.

As they have throughout Columbus' playoff run, Daescu/Todd showed up in the biggest moment. Waters/Howells put up a good fight and hit some incredible shots in the last game, but they all seemed to come back. The Sliders ultimately pulled away late to put the finishing touches on an improbable postseason run.

"This moment feels amazing," Daescu said after the win. "It literally took every single ounce of energy I had. We believed in ourselves, and we kind of had a chip on our shoulder from the start of the playoffs."

Added Todd: "I'm just so proud of this entire team. We were the underdogs this whole time, everybody chose to play us, and we just felt like it was David vs. Goliath every time." 

Major League Pickleball Challenger Level Finals

No. 1 Las Vegas Night Owls def. No. 2 Nashville Chefs 3-1, 1-3, 3-2

How they got here: Las Vegas and Nashville -- The Kitchen's MLP team -- have been No. 1 and No. 2 throughout the season. Las Vegas swept the Bay Area Breakers 2-0 in the semifinals, while Nashville also got 2-0 a sweep over the California Black Bears. 

Season series: Las Vegas leads 5-1, but only one of those matches has been played since Nashville made a trade late in the season for Genie Erokhina, who replaced Michelle Esquivel in the lineup. In that meeting on July 31, the Night Owls won 21-16 in a Dreambreaker.

There's a lot on the line in this series, as the winner will be promoted to the Premier Level for next season and the loser will stay at the Challenger Level.

Match 1: Las Vegas' Brooke Buckner/Chao Yi Wang pulled out a close one in women's doubles, 12-10 over Erokhina and Ewa Radzikowska. In my MLP Finals preview, I labeled the women's doubles matchup as a tossup in this series, and that's certainly how it played out. Both teams had opportunities to take control late and it was Vegas who got it done in the end.

In men's doubles, Anderson Scarpa/Marshall Brown have been playing great all season and continued to look good with an 11-6 win over Pablo Tellez/James Delgado. Scarpa and Brown led the regular-season series in this men's doubles matchup 4-2, so it was crucial for them to continue that trend to give the Chefs a chance heading into mixed.

But mixed doubles is where Vegas has been very strong this season. They even made a switch to their lineups late in the year and have been even better since. Delgado/Wang beat Scarpa/Erokhina 11-8 to improve their record to 10-1 together, then Tellez/Buckner closed out the match with an 11-2 win over Brown/Radzikowska. Tellez and Buckner are now 8-2 together since they started playing together a few weeks ago.

Given Vegas' strength in mixed, the women's doubles matchup seems crucial for Nashville. If the Chefs can get wins in women's doubles and men's doubles, that at least forces a Dreambreaker and gives them a decent chance.

The Night Owls were 3-1 against Nashville in Dreambreaker scenarios this year, but only one of those has come since Erokhina joined the team (a 21-16 win for Las Vegas).

Match 2: The entire complexion of Sunday's opening match flipped with a win in women's doubles by the Chefs. Erokhina/Radzikowska beat Buckner/Wang 11-7, then the men's duo of Brown/Scarpa got another crucial win over Tellez/Delgado 11-5 to put the Chefs up 2-0 heading to mixed doubles. The matchups were the same as a day before in mixed, but Nashville's Scarpa/Erokhina played much better this time around and topped Delgado/Wang 11-4 to give the Chefs a 3-1 win in regulation and force a deciding Match 3.

"We had to make some adjustments from the match yesterday and it definitely payed off," Erokhina said after the win.

Match 3: Fittingly, the deciding match went to a Dreambreaker, where Las Vegas has had much success throughout the season. They were 8-2 in Dreambreakers coming into the finals and won Sunday evening's Dreambreaker 21-9 behind stellar performances from all four players.

"This is one of the most special moments of my pickleball career," said Las Vegas coach Steve Deakin, a pro player himself who has been involved in the game for almost a decade.

He praised his team's mentality as they fought back from a loss earlier in the day on Sunday and won a very tight second mixed game 11-8 just to force the deciding Dreambreaker.

"These guys battled hard every single day," Deakin said. "We had our backs against the wall today, but we showed that it's not about the pickleball, it's about what's upstairs."

Major League Pickleball Premier Level Semifinals recap

No. 5 Columbus Sliders def. No. 1 St. Louis Shock 3-0, 3-2

For the second weekend in a row, Columbus pulled off a big upset. Last week it was a thrilling win over the No. 2 seed Dallas Flash in a three-match series, and on Friday they swept the Shock 2-0.

Video: How Columbus pulled off big upset over Dallas Flash in Major League Pickleball playoffs

Match 1: Columbus dominated from start to finish to kick off this series, sweeping the Shock 3-0 (scorelines: 11-7, 11-8, 11-5). St. Louis looked flat throughout the match and struggled to find much energy, while Columbus seems to be riding a huge wave of momentum right now.

"We have an us-against-the-world mentality," Lea Jansen said after the win. "We have the benefit of winning a really tough series, so we feel like we're really battle tested right now."

Jansen and Parris Todd set the tone in women's doubles, taking down Anna Bright and Kate Fahey to get the Sliders off to a strong start, then Andrei Daescu continued his great play alongside CJ Klinger. They beat a Hayden Patriquin/Gabe Tardio duo that had only lost twice all season heading into Friday's match, then Daescu/Todd closed it out in mixed.

Match 2: Bright/Fahey fought back and got the Shock off to a much better start with an 11-6 win over Jansen/Todd, but it was the same story in men's doubles, with Daescu/Klinger rolling to an 11-2 win over Patriquin/Tardio.

St. Louis, as the home team, elected to switch up the mixed doubles matchups by putting Bright/Patriquin against Daescu/Todd, which paid off as the Shock won that matchup 11-5. But Jansen/Klinger, who didn't play in the first match and who were 0-3 together in last week's series against the Flash, played lights out to get a win over Tardio/Fahey and force a Dreambreaker.

The singles tiebreaker was close early, but Columbus sprinted away from St. Louis in the second half by winning the last four rotations:

Klinger 3-1 over Patriquin
Todd 3-1 over Fahey
Jansen 3-1 over Bright
Daescu 2-0 over Tardio

Overall takeaways: Columbus is peaking at the right time. The men's doubles pair of Daescu/Klinger were good but not great in the regular season, going 16-8 (66.67%) together. In the playoffs they are now 5-0 and have been dominant, with wins of 11-4, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8, 11-2 in that stretch.

They also seemed to be aided by the conditions on Friday. The finals are being played on temporary courts in Central Park, which typically means the ball doesn't bounce as high. That makes it tough to attack off the bounce, and Patriquin and Tardio are both players who rely on those shots to generate offense -- whereas Daescu and Klinger use their length to attack much more often out of the air.

The stats -- courtesy of Real Clear Stats -- back that theory up.

Average number of speedups from Tardio per 60 rallies this season: 10.2

Number of speedups from Tardio in 58 rallies across both men's doubles games: 3

There are a couple factors that could have led to that discrepancy. Either Tardio wasn't comfortable speeding up balls that he normally would, or Patriquin wasn't able to set his partner up for as many attacks as usual.

In addition to his speedups off the bounce, Patriquin is known as a player who is very aggressive with dinks and can control points by moving the ball around at the kitchen line. It's harder to do that effectively when the ball isn't coming up as high as it normally does.

As a result, Columbus out-attacked St. Louis in both games.

Game 1: 12-10
Game 2: 7-3

No. 3 New Jersey 5s def. No. 6 Los Angeles Mad Drops 3-0, 3-0

Match 1: Much like Columbus, the New Jersey 5s came out with great energy and started strong in women's doubles -- with Anna Leigh Waters/Meghan Dizon cruising to an 11-3 win over Jade Kawamoto/Catherine Parenteau. They've now won their past 21 women's doubles games and haven't lost since May 25.

"I feel like we're just gelling together," Dizon said. "We know what the other is going to do. We've been gaining momentum and are having a really good time playing together."

Where things really got dicey for LA was in men's doubles.

In the meeting on July 26 between these teams, Los Angeles forced a Dreambreaker by winning men's doubles and the second mixed doubles game. On Friday, Ben Johns/Hunter Johnson had a good chance to tie things up heading to mixed in Match 1, but squandered two game points against Will Howells/Noe Khlif. Ultimately New Jersey came back to win that one, and then Howells/Waters closed the match out in mixed with an 11-2 win over Johns/Parenteau.

That might seem like a surprising score in the first mixed game, but it was a pretty similar game to the one on July 26, when Howells/Waters won 11-4 over Johns/Parenteau.

Match 2: This was basically a repeat of Match 1, with almost the same scenario in men's doubles playing out. Johns/Johnson pulled ahead 10-9 in the late stages, but couldn't close and ultimately lost 12-10. After that there was little hope for the Mad Drops, and Waters/Howells put the finishing touches on the match and the series with another convincing win over Johns/Parenteau -- 11-3.

Overall takeaways: I thought Los Angeles would at least be able to push matches to a Dreambreaker in this series, but the 5s were having none of it. Coming into the playoffs it still wasn't clear whether New Jersey's trade for Noe Khlif before the trade deadline would be enough to get them back to the final for the second year in a row, but here they are, and Khlif has been a big reason for that.

Khlif and Howells are 4-0 together in the playoffs, and Khlif played outstanding in the Los Angeles series, often playing straight ahead from Johns and more than holding his own in hands battles.

We still haven't seen much of Khlif and Dizon in the playoffs, though, as they have only had to play one match -- a loss to Texas' Eric Oncins and Tina Pisnik in the quarterfinals.