National Pickleball League caps inaugural season with championship in Glendale
The National Pickleball League, the first and only professional pickleball league for Champions Pros aged 50+, wrapped up its inaugural season in Glendale.
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The National Pickleball League, the first and only professional pickleball league for Champions Pros aged 50+, wrapped up its inaugural season in Glendale.
The Indy Drivers captured the league’s first NPL Championship in dramatic fashion as they reeled off seven of eight matches to defeat regular-season winner Austin Ignite and victoriously lift the NPL Championship Cup at Chicken N Pickle in Glendale, during Championship weekend this month.
The Drivers’ mixed doubles team of Kim Jagd and Tao Thongvanh provided the clinching finish after being down 2-7 in the third set and coming back to win the match and win the team championship for Indy.
“I just knew our win was going to be huge, and there were two other matches going on,” Jagd, a former UCLA national champion in volleyball, shared in a press release. “But when the whole team poured onto the court, I knew it was over and we had clinched the title.”
Championship Weekend in Arizona saw all six NPL teams converge on Glendale with top-seeded Austin and No. 2 Oklahoma City Punishers earning byes into the semifinals. No. 3 Indy advanced to the finals with an opening win over the Boca Raton Picklers, and an upset against OKC.
A total of $100,000 in prize money was handed out to the players during the three-day extravaganza.
The NPL will expand in 2024, with plans to increase the number of teams to 10 or more.
