St. Louis Shock sweep Mad Drops to win MLP St. Louis title

The St. Louis Shock turned their home stop into a statement, sweeping the Los Angeles Mad Drops 3-0 to win MLP St. Louis and capture the Super Sunday Belt for the first time in franchise history. In front of the Chaifetz Arena crowd, the Shock never let the final feel close, opening with an 11-1 women’s doubles rout and finishing with an 11-5 mixed doubles clincher.

Anna Bright and Kate Fahey set the tone immediately by blasting Catherine Parenteau and Jade Kawamoto, 11-1, in the opening match. Hayden Patriquin and Gabe Tardio followed with an 11-3 win over Ben Johns and Max Freeman, putting St. Louis one point away before the final mixed doubles game even started. Bright then teamed with Patriquin to close out Kawamoto and Johns, 11-5, and send the home team to the title.

The sweep mattered because it came after a strong but unfinished start to the season. St. Louis had opened 2026 with a third-place finish in Dallas and a second-place finish in Columbus, so the home event was a chance to turn near-misses into something bigger. Instead, the Shock moved through Pool B and the final with authority, giving the league’s Premier Level team a result that matched the expectations around it.

The numbers told the story of the week as much as the title did. Bright and Fahey gave up only 10 points across their five games together during MLP St. Louis, a level of dominance that gave St. Louis a reliable edge in women’s doubles every time the lineup hit the court. Bright also credited a new pre-match ritual suggested by 13-year-old Elsie Hendershot, a small detail that fit a bigger truth about the Shock’s run: the group arrived with a sharper edge and played like it.

That edge showed up in the standings, too. St. Louis finished the event with 25 points, ahead of Los Angeles at 18, Brooklyn at 15 and Orlando at 12. As the third regular-season event of the 2026 MLP season, St. Louis was more than a trophy stop. It was an early-season marker in a format where all 20 teams compete at one level and each club plays five regular-season events, making every clean sweep matter in the race for playoff positioning.

For St. Louis, the title also gives the local market something tangible to rally around. A hometown championship at Chaifetz Arena creates a stronger case for the sport beyond the pro arena, especially in a city where visible success can pull more players, more curiosity and more amateur traffic toward the game. The Shock did not just win at home. They gave St. Louis a clear front-door moment for pickleball, and they did it by sweeping the final from start to finish.