The New Jersey Fives Win Back-to-Back MLP Events — Here’s Everything That Happened in Austin

The New Jersey Fives are on a run that deserves serious attention. After winning MLP Columbus a couple of weeks ago, they sat out MLP St. Louis while other teams battled it out, and then came right back to claim the MLP Austin event as well. Two wins in two appearances in the 2026 season. That is not a fluke — that is a team clicking at the right time.

Here is a full breakdown of what went down at MLP Austin, who stood out, what the controversies were, and what to watch for heading into MLP St. Petersburg next week. And if you are new to Major League Pickleball and not sure what any of this means, stick around — there is a section below just for you.

How the Fives Got It Done

The New Jersey Fives came into Austin looking like a team with something to prove, and they left with all 25 regular season standings points from the event. That is the maximum you can earn, and it has pushed them into second place in the overall standings in terms of points per event — a critical metric as the season heads toward playoff time.

In pool play, the Fives were dominant across the board. They swept the Smash 4-0 and took care of the Breakers, Ranchers, and Bouncers each by a 3-1 margin. The one match that gave them a real scare came from the Dallas Flash, who currently sit in last place. That match went to a Dreambreaker — which is essentially a tiebreaker singles format unique to MLP — and the Fives edged it out 22-20. That is razor thin, and it shows that even the best teams in the league can be pushed to the edge on any given day.

The standout performers on the Fives were Anna Leigh Waters and Jorja Johnson, who were nearly untouchable all weekend. Both went 11-1 across their matches. When your women’s side is performing at that level, it puts enormous pressure on opposing teams to sweep the other categories just to stay competitive, and most teams simply could not do that against New Jersey.

The one area of concern for the Fives is men’s doubles. Ben Howells and Amir Khlif went 7-5 overall but struggled in men’s doubles specifically, finishing 2-4 in that category. Over the three events the Fives have played this season, their men’s doubles record sits at 9-8. That is close to a break-even rate, and in a league where every game matters, a consistently underperforming men’s doubles pairing can become a real liability in the later rounds, especially against top-tier competition.

In the Super Sunday finals, the Fives faced the Columbus Sliders in a #1 vs #1 matchup and won 3-1. The match wrapped up just in time — reportedly, intense rain storms rolled into Austin almost immediately after the trophy ceremony. Timing is everything.

For more coverage of Major League Pickleball, The Dink has been doing a great job tracking the season event by event.

The Columbus Sliders Finish Second Without Parris Todd

One of the bigger storylines heading into the Austin event was the status of Parris Todd. There were apparently rumors circulating around the Austin Pickle Ranch venue questioning whether her illness was legitimate, but the Sliders as a team kept their heads down and performed. Judit Castillo stepped in and went 5-5 for the weekend, which is a solid contribution for a fill-in player in a high-pressure team environment.

Despite missing one of their primary players, the Columbus Sliders swept Pool A, winning all four of their pool play matches. The California Black Bears — the team whose General Manager wrote the original report on this event — came the closest to taking them down, pushing the Sliders all the way to a Dreambreaker. Columbus won that one 21-9, which was not particularly close in the end, but the fact that the Bears forced a Dreambreaker at all shows how unpredictable these matchups can be.

The Sliders still walked away with a second-place finish and the points that come with it, which keeps them well-positioned in the overall standings heading into the back half of the season.

Breaking: Danni-Elle Townsend Traded to the Dallas Flash for Tyra Black

This is the kind of news that changes how you look at multiple teams simultaneously. Right as the Austin event was wrapping up, word broke that Danni-Elle Townsend had been traded to the Dallas Flash, with cash included, in exchange for Hurricane Tyra Black. Black had not played in Austin for the Flash due to illness or injury, so she was already an unknown factor at the event, but this trade reshuffles the deck considerably.

Tyra Black will now be playing alongside Parris Todd, which is a pairing that already has chemistry — the two have played together previously on the PPA Tour. That kind of existing familiarity can make a real difference in a team format like MLP, where communication and trust between partners matters enormously.

As for the Flash, adding Townsend gives them a proven player to anchor their women’s side. Dallas finished last in Pool B in Austin, and they clearly need a shakeup. Whether this trade is enough to get them back into playoff contention is another question, but it is the right kind of aggressive move for a team that has its back against the wall.

This trade has implications not just for the 2026 season but potentially for team rosters going forward. You can follow The Dink for continued updates as this situation develops.

The Heat and Court Setup Created Real Problems

Austin in June is brutal. There is really no other way to describe it. At one point over the weekend, the temperature hit 95 degrees with 95 percent humidity, and the feels-like temperature was sitting at 104 degrees. That is not just uncomfortable — for athletes competing at a high level across multiple matches over multiple days, that kind of heat is genuinely taxing on the body. The league did bring in towels, ice bags, and hydration support for players, which is the right call, but no amount of ice bags fully offsets what it feels like to compete in those conditions.

Beyond the weather, there was a logistical issue with the Championship Court setup that caused unnecessary headaches. According to the insider perspective shared in the original report, only two players and one additional staff member were allowed at the bench area. The rest of the team — players and staff — had to sit in the first row of the stands directly behind the bench. But here is the problem: to actually access the court, anyone coming from the stands had to go all the way around the court to reach the entrance on the opposite side.

In a team sport where timeouts, player rotations, and coaching huddles need to happen quickly and efficiently, that kind of layout creates friction that should not exist. It is a venue design issue that hopefully gets addressed for future events, because it can genuinely affect team performance in close matches where every second of communication matters.

Big Winners Outside of the Fives

Miami Pickleball Club

Miami came out of the Austin event with 10 standings points and a third-place finish overall. They started the weekend strong with a win over the California Black Bears on day one, but then ran into both SoCal and Columbus and dropped those matchups. They finished third in their pool, then handled business against the Bay Area team on Super Sunday, which is what mattered most for points.

The key figure here is Dylan Frazier. The observation made in the original report is worth repeating: as Frazier goes, so does Miami. He is that important to how this team performs. Miami moved up eight spots in the standings points-per-event rankings off the back of their Austin showing. Whether they can carry that momentum into MLP St. Petersburg next week will tell us a lot about whether this team is a real playoff contender or just having a good individual event.

SoCal Hard Eights

The Hard Eights had a genuinely rough debut at MLP St. Louis — their first event of the season — earning just one point and finishing fifth in their pool. Austin was a different story. They moved from tied for 15th in the standings all the way up to 10th, earning 12 points and finishing fourth overall at the event.

The player who made the biggest individual impression was Cailyn Campbell. Something clicked for her this weekend, and her performance was a significant part of why the Hard Eights were able to turn things around so dramatically between events. A lot of credit also goes to Hard Eights coach Adam Stone, who clearly made some strategic adjustments between St. Louis and Austin that paid off. If this momentum holds, the Hard Eights could find themselves in a legitimate playoff hunt as the season progresses.

Texas Ranchers

The Ranchers recently traded Dylan Frazier — who went to Miami — and brought in Nico Acevedo, and Acevedo’s debut weekend went reasonably well. He went 7-5 overall, and while the Ranchers lost to the Fives 3-1 in pool play, the men’s doubles game between these two teams came down to 12-10. Flip that game and the Ranchers might have been the ones playing for first place on Super Sunday instead of Columbus.

The Ranchers earned 15 standings points in Austin and moved from 10th place all the way up to 6th in the overall standings. That is a significant jump, especially considering they made a major roster move right before the event. Acevedo is expected to keep developing chemistry with Oncins on the right side and build his partnership with Jansen, which suggests the Ranchers could become an even stronger team as the weeks go on.

Pool Play Recap: Notable Storylines

In Pool A, the Hogs were competitive throughout the weekend but could not convert that competitiveness into actual match wins. The California Black Bears had a notable moment on Sunday, defeating Florida in a Dreambreaker to earn six standings points. They also debuted two new men — Joey Wild and James Delgado — which adds some interesting wrinkles to their roster going forward.

In Pool B, the Dallas Flash finishing last was arguably the most surprising result of the entire event. A team with legitimate talent landing at the bottom of the pool is a sign something was clearly off — though the trade for Townsend suggests the front office is already responding. The Atlanta Bouncers were without Kaitlyn Christian for the weekend and still nearly finished third, only dropping to fifth based on tiebreakers, which speaks to the overall depth of their roster. The Florida Smash had a strong individual department performance from their women, who went 4-2 across the weekend, and they are worth keeping an eye on in future events.

What Is Major League Pickleball? A Quick Explanation for Newcomers

If you stumbled onto this article and are not entirely sure what Major League Pickleball is or how it works, here is a quick rundown that should help everything above make more sense.

Pickleball is a paddle sport played on a smaller court than tennis, using a wiffle-style ball. It has exploded in popularity across the United States over the last several years, attracting players of all ages and skill levels. At the professional end of the sport, the pros compete at an extremely high level, and Major League Pickleball — often called MLP — is the premier team-based professional pickleball league in the country.

Each MLP team is made up of four players — typically two men and two women. Teams compete against each other in four categories: women’s doubles, men’s doubles, and two mixed doubles matches. Matches are played to a certain point total, and whichever team wins more of those four individual games wins the overall match. If a match is tied 2-2, it goes to a Dreambreaker, which is a singles format where one player from each team competes head-to-head to decide the winner. It is one of the most exciting formats in professional racket sports.

Teams accumulate points throughout the regular season based on how they finish at each event. The best teams make it to the playoffs, and ultimately one team is crowned champion. The 2026 season has been packed with drama, trades, and standout individual performances, and the New Jersey Fives are currently the team to beat after their back-to-back wins. You can get deeper into the world of MLP and pickleball strategy by visiting the Pickleball 101 section over at The Dink.

What Comes Next: MLP St. Petersburg

The next stop on the MLP calendar is MLP St. Petersburg, which begins on a Wednesday at 11am ET — an earlier start than usual. One reason for the earlier schedule is that this venue only has a Championship Court, with no separate Grandstand Court. That means every match will be on the main stage, which actually creates a more focused and intense atmosphere for both players and fans watching the livestream.

By all accounts, the St. Petersburg venue is one of the finest indoor pickleball facilities in the world, so the broadcast quality and overall experience should reflect that. The event runs through Sunday, so there will be a full week of action to follow.

The Fives enter St. Pete as the hottest team in the league. The Sliders showed they can win even without a key player. Miami is surging. The Ranchers are trending upward. The Hard Eights have found something. And the Dallas Flash just made a trade that could completely change their trajectory. There is a lot to watch heading into next week, and the playoff picture is still very much up for grabs.

Stay tuned to The Dink for a full preview of MLP St. Petersburg, expected to drop Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.