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What happened in the draft?

What happened in the draft?

Draft results and rosters as they stand

Team KOTC
March 04, 2025

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Challenger Draft & Rosters
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Draft Results - what happened?

Premier and Challenger MLP leagues drafted over the last two days: Premier on Sunday, Challenger on Monday. With revised 2025 rules, Premier leagues had to fill 6 total roster spots, and every player has to have a signed UPA contract. Contracts continued to be signed up until the day before the draft, to fill out the eligible player list.

As a plot twist in the story, days before the draft, MLP announced new waiver rules that would allow a team’s 5th or 6th player to be poached by any other team for no cost. (This would require the poaching team to sacrifice their 4th player in place of the other team’s 5th or 6th). The intention of this rule was to ensure high quality players weren’t riding the bench, wasting time and talent when they could be beneficial to another team. Positive for viewership, positive for those players who want to play. However, detrimental to teams looking to develop players long-term.

This dramatically shifted the draft strategy for most teams. Instead of investing in a diamond in the rough, who they could cultivate and train over a few years’ time, anyone they tried to develop would be at risk of being swept away with no compensation and no control. So most teams opted to pick relative unknowns for their bench roster, at minimum bid price (a minimum that was lowered in real time during the draft). Rumors circulated that some Challenger teams were negotiating with Premier teams to draft someone of their choice, and trade when the window opened at the conclusion of the Challenger draft.

With that context, below are the results of the draft, first in draft order, then a list of all current team rosters. Don’t get attached to any particular roster, because when the trade window opens (it was moved from immediately after the Challenger draft, to 1 p.m. ET today) we expect team rosters will look very different.

Premier Draft

Kate Fahey - St. Louis Shock
Augie Ge - Dallas Flash
Lea Jansen - Columbus Sliders
Riley Newman - DC Pickleball Team
James Ignatowich - Chicago Slice
Jack Sock - Phoenix Flames
Quang Duong - LA Mad Drops
Genie Bouchard - New Jersey 5s
Vivienne David - Chicago Slice
Max Freeman - Chicago Slice
Victoria Di Muzio - Atlanta Bouncers
Callie Jo Smith - Chicago Slice
Mehvish Safdar - Utah Black Diamonds
Noe Khlif - Texas Ranchers
Zane Ford - NY Hustlers
Donald Young - NY Hustlers
Mya Bui - Miami Pickleball Club
Samantha Parker - Orlando Squeeze
Helena Spiridis - NY Hustlers
Jay Devilliers - Miami Pickleball Club
Dominique Schaefer - NY Hustlers
Tammy Emmrich - Carolina Pickleball Club
Ivan Jakovljevic - SoCal Hard EIghts
Ryan Fu - SoCal Hard EIghts
Felicity Di Laura - St. Louis Shock
Michael Loyd - Texas Ranchers
Helena Jansen - Texas Ranchers
Erik Lange - St. Louis Shock
Hanna Blatt - DC Pickleball Team
Blaine Hovenier - SoCal Hard Eights
Juan Benitez - NY Hustlers
Roscoe Bellamy - Columbus Sliders
Christa Gecheva - NJ 5s
Danna Funaro - NY Hustlers
Tom Evans - Orlando Squeeze
Alli Phillips - Orlando Squeeze
Sam Querry - Atlanta Bouncers
Genie Erokhina - Utah Black Diamonds
Yuta Funemizu - Miami Pickleball Club
Pat Smith - DC Pickleball Club
Alex Walker - Phoenix Flames
Darrian (DJ) Young - Dallas Flash
Rachel Rettger - Atlanta Bouncers
Marcela Hones - Columbus Sliders
Yates Johnson - Utah Black Diamonds
Thomas Wilson - LA Mad Drops
Craig Johnson - NJ 5s
Pesa Teoni - Phoenix Flames
Angie Walker - LA Mad Drops
Ava Ignatowich - Miami PB Club
Pierina Imparato - Chicago Slice
Liz Truluck - Carolina Pickleball Club
Tatiana Ruhl - Dallas Flash
Brandon French - Carolina Pickleball Club
Lauren Hidalgo-Smith SoCal Hard Eights
Carlos Di Laura - Chicago Slice

Premier Team Rosters (* indicates kept from last season)

Atlanta Bouncers

Vivian Glozman*
Jaume Martinez-Vich*
Todd Fought*
Victoria Di Muzio
Sam Querry
Rachel Rettger

Carolina PB Club

Ben Johns*
Collin Johns*
Kaitlyn Christian*
Tammy Emmrich
Liz Truluck
Brandon French

Chicago Slice

Chicago had to drop their entire team from last year, since none were signed with UPA

James Ignatowich
Vivienne David
Max Freeman
Callie Jo Smith
Pierina Imparato
Carlos DiLaura

Columbus Sliders

Andrei Daescu*
Parris Todd*
CJ Klinger*
Lea Jansen
Roscoe Bellamy
Marcela Hones

DC Pickleball Team

Rachel Rohrabacher*
Jackie Kawamoto*
Dekel Bar*
Riley Newman
Hannah Blatt
Pat Smith

Dallas Flash

JW Johnson*
Jorja Johnson*
Hurricane Tyra Black*
Augie Ge (dropped due to keeper rules, immediately re-drafted)
Darrian (DJ) Young
Tatiana Ruhl

LA Mad Drops

Catherine Parenteau*
Jade Kawamoto*
Hunter Johnson*
Quang Duong
Thomas Wilson
Angie Walker

Miami Pickleball Club

Milan Rane*
Eric Oncins*
Mya Bui
Jay Devilliers
Yuta Funemizu
Ava Ignatowich

New Jersey 5s

Most people expected a bidding war over Kate Fahey, which the Shock ultimately won. In a slim field of women - many had no clue who the 5s would go for next to fill Mari Humberg’s spot

Anna Leigh Waters*
Zane Navratil*
Will Howells*
Genie Bouchard
Christa Gecheva
Craig Johnson

NY Hustlers

The Hustlers opted to drop their entire 2024 roster, so they drafted completely from scratch

Zane Ford
Donald Young
Helena Spiridis
Dominique Schaefer
Juan Benitez
Danna Funaro

Orlando Squeeze

Federico Staksrud*
Dylan Frazier*
Lacy Schneemann*
Samantha Parker
Tom Evans
Alli Phillips

Phoenix Flames

Meghan Dizon*
Tyson McGuffin*
Jessie Irvine*
Jack Sock
Alex Walker
Pesa Teoni

SoCal Hard Eights

Irina Tereschenko*
Judit Castillo*
Ivan Jakovljevic*
Ryan Fu
Blaine Hovenier
Lauren Hidalgo-Smith

St. Louis Shock

Anna Bright*
Hayden Patriquin*
Gabe Tardio*
Kate Fahey (dropped due to keeper rules, immediately re-drafted)
Felicity DiLaura
Erik Lange

Texas Ranchers

Christian Alshon*
Etta Tuionetoa*
Tina Pisnik*
Noe Khlif
Michael Loyd
Helena Jansen

Utah Black Diamonds

Tyler Loong*
Connor Garnett*
Alix Truong*
Mehvish Safdar
Genie Erokhina
Yates Johnson

Challenger Draft

Hey - don’t skip this. Everyone in Challenger will be Premier next year. Some interesting moves are likely to be made when the trade window opens later today. It matters!

Since Challenger rosters are staying at 4 people, Challenger teams only had 11 spots to draft: