Dearest Gentle Reader...
Woah sorry- we've been watching too much Bridgerton over here. What I meant to start this with was:
Holy Cripes Season 9, hot damn.
Excuse my french, but what a fucking day. A long, energizing yet exhausting day, that went late into the night for some.
We saw a bit of everything in season 9- First time champs, playoff dreambreaker drama, team jammies, Tom's Bar, the return of "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED" Mavetz. It was a season for the record books, and one that will most certainly live on in TPL lore for decades to come.
Let's taco bout it (see what I did there? Since we had Chipotle for the after party this time. Super clever play on words)
Pool Play
Pool A
LMFA Pros
First time captain Allen Ng had the team looking fly in their custom LMFA Pro uniforms as they squared off with the Expats in round 1, but they may have been a bit too focused on their dance moves as they found themselves in an 0-2 hole after gendered. But they Put That Ass To Work in mixed, taking both mixed matches, with Faith/Mark topping Adam/Nicole, and Allen/Lexi beating Yang/Bailey. There would unfortunately be no more Party Rock, as they lost the dreambreaker 21-17. In round 2 they found themselves in another dreambreaker after splitting gendered with Faith/Lexi winning 25-23, and Mark/Allen losing 22-20, and then splitting mixed. Once again they ran out of steam and came up short in the dreambreaker. They got in the W column with a win over the Picklecats in the Wildcard round, before losing their final pool play match to the Power Bangers. LMFA Pro finished as the #4 seed in pool A, but we all know what happens with #4 seeds come playoff time...
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| We didn't capture team photos for everyone, so I've resorted to this method |
Jamie & The Expats. Bailey & The Expats
A few days before season 9, I received the dreaded text learning season 7 champ Jamie Voelker was down and out with an illness. A tough blow to the Expats squad at any time, but especially with only a few days before the big event. But luckily (and sort of un lucky for their opponents), Sheedy quickly got in touch with Bailey Rezabek who was able to fill in for Jamie and make her TPL debut. "Fill in" would not do Bailey's debut justice, as she absolutely crushed it in her first appearance with the Expats.
I feel like Nicole is always playing in dreambreakers, and once again her dream came true as the Expats went to dreambreakers in all 3 of their pool play matches, with wins over LMFA Pros and Power Bangers, while taking a 22-20 dreambreaker loss to Fleetwood Smack. In that dreambreaker, the Laotian Laser Yang Lo and The Australian Armadillo Adam Couzens handed it over to their ladies 11-8, before Jenny/Genna had a great second half run to take down the powerhouse of Bailey/Nicole (you guys took exceptional notes on your scoresheet to provide me with that info, well done!) In the wildcard round they topped The Final 4, finishing their pool play portion of the day as the #2 seed coming out of pool A.
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| Their team got separated during the group photo, so we'll just show Nicole here |
Power Bangers
Go go Power Bangers! After we were all convinced this squad would go unnamed and have no shot of getting in a team practice, they surprised us with both, as they got together for practice session before the big day and came up with a very appropriate team name in the Power Bangers. And power bang they did indeed, led by Jaryd Marks making his TPL debut.
The PB's went to two dreambreakers during pool play, unfortunately losing both, to Fleetwood and The Expats, but beat the LMFA Pros 3-1 winning three different two point contests. While this squad had the least amount of TPL experience under their belts, TPL staple Missy Rosenthal had them morphing into a team to fear heading into the playoffs.
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| At least 1 team member had a Power Rangers shirt on! |
Fleetwood Smack
Adorning their incredible custom uniforms with their Fleetwood band member photo on them, this squad was ready to smack some shit right out the gates in round 1. Perhaps it's the extreme dread of Sta Fit that captain Jason Krueger feels when he walks into that bubble, as Fleetwood Smack was a force during the pool play session. Their only loss at Sta Fit came during the wildcard round, where they were edged 31-29 by Stranger Dinks.
In their pool matches, they finished 3-0, but it certainly didn't come easy. They won all 3 matches in dreambreakers, two of them being decided by only 2 points. So while they had the potential curse of the #1 seed hanging over them heading into playoffs, it felt as though this team was different. Heading to the playoffs being battle tested during pool play had them feeling confident they could accomplish the Dreams they had of raising the TPL Cup.
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| Fleetwood showing off their custom T's |
Pool B
Stranger Dinks
Filled with TPL veterans, this was another squad who came out looking fantastic in their matching Stranger Dinks shirts. The Dinks suffered two tough dreambreaker losses in their first two matches to The Picklecats and The Final 4, before picking up a wild card win against Fleetwood Smack. For their final pool play match, they decided to save some energy for playoffs, and took a 0-4 loss to the POP Starz.
While finishing at the bottom of Pool B, Stranger Dinks was most certainly not the squad anyone wanted to see in the playoffs.
Volly & The Picklecats
The defending champs were back, sporting their non existent uniforms and this time a severe lack of cat ears. But on the court they showed their claws as they got an opening round win over Stranger Dinks in a tight dreambreaker that ended 22-20, before losing their next two pool matches to The POP Starz and The Final 4. In the wildcard game, they also couldn't handle the party rockin from the LMFA Pros, losing 30-27.
But we've seen this move from the cats before. They hadn't exhausted their 9 lives just yet, and relishing at the opportunity for this party to move back to their championship venue- The Shed. There's something about that place that makes cats come alive, would the venue change end up being the catalyst the cats needed to get going to defend their title?
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| The defending champs! |
POP Starz
The undisputed best dressed of season 9 with their custom made sleeveless shirts, gold hats, and charisma exuding out their pores, the POP Starz were ready to finally put the offseason media spectacle behind them and play some pickleball.
They got off to a hot start with a 3-1 win over the Picklecats, a comeback wild card win over the Power Bangers, and a 4-0 sweep over Stranger Dinks. Their lone pool play loss came against The Final 4, where multiple games were decided by 2 points. Would things turn out differently if they got the chance to see them again? Time would only tell...
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| #neverstopneverstopping |
The Final 4
Naming their squad with a nod to the upcoming March Madness tournament, the Final 4 was hoping to get hot at the right time and make a playoff run. Instead of finding the right time they chose to be hot the whole time, as they went undefeated during pool play topping Stranger Dinks in a tight dreambreaker, before beating both The POP Starz and Picklecats 3-1.
They did leave pool play with a slight blemish on their record, taking a wildcard loss to Bailey and the Expats. The score of that game went unrecorded, but you can imagine it was a thriller with all that firepower on display.
Standings after Pool Play
Pool A
#1 Fleetwood Smack. 3-0. Wildcard L
#2 Bailey & The Expats. 2-1. Wildcard W
#3 Power Bangers. 1-2. Wildcard L
#4 LMFA Pros. 0-3. Wildcard W
Pool B
#1 The Final 4. 3-0. Wildcard L
#2 POP Starz. 2-1. Wildcard W
#3 Volly & The Picklecats. 1-2. Wildcard L
#4 Stranger Dinks. 0-3. Wildcard W
Quarterfinals
Have you ever watched The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, and the host Chris Harrison (now Jesse Palmer) says at the beginning of the season something about how this is "the most dramatic season in the entire Bachelor franchise history?"
That's precicesly what the season 9 quarterfinals were for The TPL. In the days following the event, I was wow'd at how incredible the quarterfinals were, and I thought maybe I had some recency bias coming into play. Now over a month later, I can say there is no recency bias here, they were indeed THE MOST DRAMATIC QUARTERFINALS WE'VE EVER SEEN!
The first match on the far court at the beloved Shed featured #1 seed Fleetwood Smack vs #4 seed Stranger Dinks, a rematch of their intense wild card game where the strange group edged out Fleetwood. After gendered it was 1-1 with The Fleetwood gals Jenny/Genna getting the win over Emily G/Kris, before the men of fire Chris/Dan evened the score with a win over Jason/John. Mixed was split as well as Emily/Dan won for stranger, with Jason/Genna getting the W for Fleetwood. We then witnessed an instant classic dreambreaker, one for the TPL record books. Dan/Emily handed it over to their teammates with an 11-3 lead, thanks in part to Dan going absolutely berserk out there, leading to Fleetwood demanding a drug test on the man. During the second half of the dreambreaker, I recall hearing Stranger Dinks serving ahead 18-11. But there's no way Jason/Genna would just roll over, as they crawled back, and ended up taking a 19-18 lead!! All of a sudden, after seasons of first round exits, Chris Mavetz remembered who he was, the only 3 time TPL Champion in the building, and he went on a Mavetz mayham run, and sent Fleetwood Smack to the showers early, ending the game 21-19. I think we even got the Mavets classic Gladiator quote- "Are you not entertained!?!?"
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| Stranger Dinks or Stranger Drinks, am I right?? |
Fleetwood had 2 curses working against them; The curse of the 1 seed, and the curse of the musical team name. It is now officially the 4th time in a row that a musical themed team has lost in the first round of the playoffs. Will anyone dare to break that curse in season 10!?
On court 1, we had another instant classic between The Picklecats and The Expats. The squads would trade gender wins with Baily/Nicole staying unbeaten in women's games, before Manny/Jay came alive against Yang/Adam. Something about a picklecat in The Shed brings out the best in Jay Portz, as he came up big in the mens game, helping propel the Picklecat men to their first win of the day. In the first mixed game we saw a battle of TPL heavyweights, with Bailey/Adam lining up against Manny/Volly. And the game absolutely delivered. It was an incredible display of playoff pickle as these two put on a display of sharp angles, impossible gets, and ridiculous speedups. In the end, Volly/Manny came out on top in a tight two point contest, setting up their compadres to yet again come up clutch in the playoffs as they did time and time again during their season 8 run. Emily Schadow and Jay Portz were once again not to be denied, as they took out Nicole/Yang, securing the upset win for The Picklecats, and keeping their repeat hopes alive!
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| Shed vibes were high for TPL playoffs! |
All that drama and we're only halfway through the quarterfinals...
In the second bout of QF's, on the far court we saw the poorly matching top seeded Final 4 taking on the impeccably dressed LMFA Pros. The Final 4 got off to a hot start taking both gendered matches, setting up a showdown between Kitri/Justin vs Faith/Mark trying to keep LMFA alive. Faith/Mark Put That Ass To Work and handed Kitri/Justin their first loss of the day, setting up another must win mixed match. However, during the women's match, LMFA Pro Lexi Portz injured her back, and couldn't play in the mixed game. We ran through a series of bad ideas, before deciding the only fair thing was to give the game to Nicki/Julius, securing the QF win for Final 4. We'll never know what would've happened if Allen/Lexi had taken the court, but we definitely know they would've won, but we'll never know, but we can only guess, but we'll never know.
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| You can hardly tell, but The Final 4 and LMFA Pro women are playing pickleball in this screenshot of a video |
Wrapping up the QF's, on court 1 we had The #2 seeded POP Starz vs the #3 seeded Power Bangers. The teams would split gendered with Jasmin/Missy winning the womens for the PBs, and Tom/Corbin taking the mens for POP Starz. In mixed, Tom/Lake beat Jaryd/Missy, setting up a must win game from Jasmin/Brandon to keep the Power Banger's dreams alive. The go go Power Bangers were not to be denied, as Jasmin/Brandon got the W, sending this to a playoff dreambreaker! The POP Starz were the home team, and they decided to go with mixed in the db, keeping their lineups of Tom/Lake and Corbeee/Sheedy. Power Bangers decided the order, and chose to go with Missy/Jaryd first against Tom/Lake. Flipping the result of the mixed game, Missy/Jaryd handed it over to their Power Banger teammates leading 11-10 at the switch. Jasmin/Brandon came on confident having just beaten Corbee/Sheedy. But The POP Starz, with #neverstopneverstopping gold platted across their backs, weren't going to give in that easily. I may be biased, but the second half of this dreambreaker could have been one of the most dramatic finishes to a TPL game we've ever had. Late in the game, Corbee/Sheedy fended off MULTIPLE match points, heroically saving the POP Starz season from ending too early, and came back to win the match 24-22!! Never. Stop. Never. Stopping.
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| Sheedy & Corbee after the game winning point! |
Semifinals
I'm so exhausted just thinking about that dreambreaker match, that I'll keep the semifinals recap short. Interestingly, all 4 teams in the semifinals were from pool B. This has happened one other time in The TPL, where one pool was completely eliminated after the QFs. Sorry pool A.
On the far court, The Final 4 took down the defending champion Picklecats, 3-0, ending their dreams of a repeat title.
On court 1, Stranger Dinks was set on avenging their 0-4 pool play loss to the POP Starz. It started out rough, with the POP Starz getting out to a 2-0 lead after gendered. Another interesting tidbit- the only team Dan/Mavetz lost to all day was Tom/Corbin, and it happened twice. After that loss, Dan was not to be denied, as he and Emily G remained hot and took down Corbin/Sheedy, setting up Chris/Kris for some playoff magic. Unfortunately for them, Tom/Lake were in no mood for magic tricks, as they closed the curtain on the Kris/Chris combo, sending The POP Starz to the championship match.
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| Just a great photo, why not put it here |
Championship
If you thought the drama was over, you're a gall darn idiot. This championship match, completely predicted by ai (Gemini) days before season 9, absolutely delivered for the capacity crowd. In the women's game, Kitri/Nicki topped Lake/Sheedy giving The Final 4 an early 1-0 lead. The mens game was an instant TPL classic. With Tom/Corbin leading at the switch, Justin/Julius just would not go away. In an extremely intense game, where both teams had opportunities serving for game point, Julius/Justin came out on top, winning 25-23, giving their squad a 2-0 championship lead.
The Final 4 sent Kitri/Justin out first, and The POP Starz countered with Lake/Tom, setting up a pool play rematch of a game that ended 22-20 in favor of Kitri/Justin. The tall hoopers started out proving to be too much for the short POP Starz, commanding an 11-6 lead at the switch, looking like they were on their way to a championship sweep. But this is The POP Starz we're talking about. With #neverstopneverstopping ringing in their minds, Lake/Tom fought their way back into the game. You could feel the tension in The Shed, with long drawn out dink rallies and silence from the crowd, it was everything one could dream of for a championship atmosphere. With the POP Starz leading 19-17, we had one of the greatest saves ever from Lake after Kitri crushed a ball left up by Tom, which led to a loud "crowd pop." Well, maybe just Lake and Tom screaming, but it felt like the roof was going to come off the place. Lake/Tom would go on the seal the deal 21-18, avenging their pool play loss and setting up Corbee/Sheedy for some more POP Star sorcery.
But dammit Nicki Pomeroy had other ideas. After never getting past the first round of the playoffs in her TPL career, Nicki was downright determined to get her championship chug for season 9. Her and Julius fended off every blow Corbee/Sheedy could throw at them, and came out on top, giving The Final 4 the TPL Season 9 championship title.
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| Season 9 champs |
Stats for the nerds:
Top Performing Gendered Doubles Teams
- Tom Spaniol & Corbin Bentz: 4-2
- Bailey Rezabek & Nicole Idalski: 4-0
- Justin Dering & Julius Mejia: 5-1
- Kitri Boser & Nicki Pomeroy: 5-1
- Emily Gerads & Dan Forsythe: 3-1
- Faith Lee & Mark Elliott: 4-0
- Julius Mejia & Nicki Pomeroy: 4-1
- Lake Johnson & Tom Spaniol: 5-1
- Dan Forsythe: 7-3
- Tom Spaniol: 9-3
- Nicki Pomeroy: 9-2
- Julius Mejia: 9-2
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| POP Starz team jammies |
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