The Desert Pickleball League saw its most recent league season come to a close, and there was a lot of great action that deserves notice.
So with a special thanks to league director Kim Scholz, here are the results and winners for every division with the details provided by Scholz.
The league had more teams, playing in more divisions than the previous years. We welcomed new clubs, Desert Horizons, Outdoor Resort Indio, The Fairways Palm Springs, Smoke Tree Racquet Club, Tamarisk CC, and Rancho Las Palmas. The Senior 70’s had 5 divisions. The season came to an end with the division playoffs held over 4 days at Monterey Country Club. Some very hot pickleball on some very hot days.
Men’s Premier 3.0 Season: Men’s Premier had 7 teams this season. Four teams battled it out for the League Championship which was decided on the last match of the season. The Del Demons captained by captains Steven Anastasia and Keith Powers edged out Indian Ridge CC captained by Jan Claesson and Paul Weston by one point to win the League Championship and #1 seed in the playoffs.
Men’s Premier 3.0 Division Playoffs: Everyone knew the was going to be good as there were only a few points that separated the top 4 teams. #1 Seed Del Demons got by #4 Seed The Lakes captained by Jeff Byrd and Eric Smith 3-1 but The Fairways Palm Springs captained by Jon Swalboski and Todd Dickey pulled off an upset beating Indian Ridge with both teams winning two matches but The Fairways won by games won. The Fairways Palm Springs rode on their momentum and pulled off another upset 3-1 over the Del Demons to become the Men’s Premier Division Champions
Women’s Premier 3.0 Season: Women’s Premier had 13 teams competing this year. Paradise Pickleball Rally Rebels captained by Cindi Mainprize and Susan Tate won the League Championship with The Lakes CC captained by Linda Morgan placing second. There were 6 other teams that were closely matched and vied for the final two playoff spots. Mission Hills Sole Sisters Lori Smith and Kari Holland secured 3rd Place but the 4th place spot came down to a tie-breaker of head to head score between Toscana Pickle Pals and Del Webb Dinkers. Toscana captained by Katie Atwood and Stacy Thoman had won the head to head and got the 4th place spot.
Women’s Premier 3.0 Division Playoffs: Paradise Pickleball got by Toscana 4.0 while The Lakes beat Mission Hills 3-0 setting the stage for #1 agains #2. The Lakes played inspired pickleball and were able to get by Paradise Pickleball 3-0 and win the Women’s Premier Division Championship. Mission Hills placed third beating Toscana 3-2 in a hard fought match.
Mixed Premier 3.0 Season: There were 5 teams in Mixed Premier. Two teams battled down to the wire with the league championship decided on the last match of the season. Palm Valley Golden Aces captained by Ron Gregory and Carol Peters narrowly won the League Championship by 2 points over the 2nd place Rancho Las Palmas team captained by Jeff Freud.
Mixed Premier 3.0 Division Playoffs: #2 Rancho Las Palmas defeated 3rd Place Monterey captained by Craig Silke but hold on to your seats 4th Place Mission Hills Dink Dynasty pulled off an incredible upset beating #1 Palm Valley Golden Aces 3-1. Rancho Las Palmas took the Division Championship with a hard fought victory over Mission Hills. Palm Valley bounced back dispatching Monterey for 3rd Place.
Men’s Elite 3.5 Season: Men’s Elite featured 10 teams. This division featured very competitive play with 7 teams having the ability to beat anyone, anytime. Palm Springs Westin #1 captained by Dennis Olson won the League Championship for the second year in a row. But 6 other teams battled for the final 3 playoff spots and a shot at taking down Palm Springs Westin. The final spots were decided on the last match of the season. The Lakes captained by Larry Strong placed 2nd while Toscana captained by Bob Radzis got 3rd Place. The 4th spot went to Del Webb Rancho Mirage captained Steve Mazza and Dorian Ring who eked out a 1 point lead over Mission Hills captained by Rod Hames and Tamarisk captained by James Berkenfield and Michael Pierson.
Men’s Elite 3.5 Division Playoffs: Division Playoffs can be unpredictable and they sure were in this division. #4 Del Webb Rancho Mirage stunned #1 Palm Springs Westin 3-1. #3 Toscana followed suit and pulled off another upset beating #2 The Lakes. Toscana defended their last years Division Championship winning again over Del Webb Rancho Mirage 3-0.
Women’s Elite 3.5 Season: 15 teams!! What a division. Each team played 10 matches. 6 teams would qualify for the Division Playoffs with an early playoff knock out round for 3rd thru 6 place teams. 1st Place and 2nd Place would receive Byes. The Lakes CC captained by Sara Cullen and Kerry Tooth took the League Championship commandingly. Monterey captained by Amy Strutt took 2nd place by one point over the veteran teams of 3rd Place Griffin Ranch captained by Chelsy Wagner and 4th Place Mission Hills Netflicks captained by Liz Kenney and Kate Morton. Palm Desert Resort #1 captained by Hady Fleming took 5th Place and Mountainview captained by Linda Allen and Rosa Reed secured 6th place.
Women’s Elite 3.5 Division Playoffs: Tuesdays knockout round pitted #3 Griffin Ranch against #6 Mountainview. Griffin Ranch won 3-1 and advanced to Thursday round against #2 Monterey. But Palm Desert Resort #1 pulled off an upset knocking out Mission Hills Netflicks 3-0 and advancing to Thursday match against #1 The Lakes. Monterey defeated Griffin Ranch 3-0 to advance to the title match with The Lakes who had defeated PDR #1 3-0. #1 against #2. Both teams were primed for the match. The Lakes showed their strength defeating Monterey 3-0 for the Division Championship.
Mixed Elite 3.5 Season: Seven teams competed in Mixed Elite this year. Del Webb Rancho Mirage captained by Richard Sarnat dominated league play and won the League Championship commandingly. Rancho Las Palmas captained by Jeff and Christy Freud took 2nd place. Silver Sands RC captained Lori Bresciani and Arian Balkan secured 3rd place and Mission Hills #1 captained by Rod Hames took 4th.
Mixed Elite 3.5 Division Playoffs: #3 Silver Sand RC knocked off #2 Rancho Las Palmas 3-0 sending them into the championship match with #1 Del Webb Rancho Mirage who had beat Mission Hills. Del Webb Rancho Mirage showed their strength by defeating Silver Sands RC 3-0 winning the Division Championship. Rancho Las Palmas defeated Mission Hills for 3rd Place.
Men’s Select 4.0+ Season: Men’s Select had 7 teams. Paradise Pickleball captained by Matt Houseman and Jeff Tara took the League Championship. Monterey CC captained by Philip Jacobs was able to push Paradise Pickleball but were unable to dethrone them and placed 2nd. The Lakes captained Craig Caliger took 3rd and The Springs captained by Fred Coleman got 4th Place.
Men’s Select 4.0+ Division Playoffs: 2nd Place Monterey opened the playoffs with a 3-1 win over #3 The Lakes. Paradise Pickleball defeated The Springs 3-0 setting the match-up everyone wanted to see. Monterey and Paradise Pickleball had split their two league matches with each other. This would decide the bragging rights for Coachella Valley Pickleball. Paradise Pickleball jumped out to a lead and never looked back winning the Division Championship. The Lakes took 3rd place beating the Springs 3-2.
Women’s Select 4.0+ Season: Five teams competed this season. Palm Desert Resort Dinkerbells captained by Monique Sannes and Mission Hills Kind of a Big Dill captained Wendy Melcher battled back and forth for the league title. Finally the Dinkerbells prevailed taking the League Championship. Fresh Agave was well represented with teams from Palm Desert Resort and the Westin. PDR Fresh Agave captained by Kelly Dower and Lani McElrath took 3rd place by one point over Westin Fresh Agave captained by Miriam Garfinkel and Julie Hooker.
Women’s Select 4.0+ Division Playoffs: #1 PDR Dinkerbells dispatched #4 Westin Fresh Agave and #2 Mission Hills Kind of a Big Dill took out PDR Fresh Agave setting the stage for titanic championship match. PDR Dinkerbells showed why they were league champions by beating Mission Hills 3-0 and winning the Division Championship.
Mixed Select 4.0+ Season: Although there were only 4 teams in this division the competition was great. Two teams stood out Mission Hills #1 captained by Wendy Melcher and La Quinta Wellness Center captained by Leona Matzenauer and Kevin Howell. These two teams were evenly matched. Mission Hill #1 squeaked out the #1 seed by one point. Tamarisk captained by Steve Snower and Michael Pierson took 3rd and Mission Hills #2 captained by Ted Bauer and Mugg Ogg got 4th. Both teams knew there role would be the spoiler.
Mixed Select 4.0+ Division Playoffs: The playoffs were for all the marbles and meaningful title. Mission Hills #1 took out Mission Hills #2. Tamarisk almost pulled off the upset but lost to LQ Wellness 3-2 on a games won tie-breaker. This set the stage for a dramatic final. LQ Wellness and Mission Hills battled to a 2-2 tie. BUT LQ Wellness won on games won securing the Division Championship.
Senior 70’s Men’s Premier 3.0 Season: 6 teams played in this division. Palm Valley Golden Aces captained by Ron Gregory took the League Championship. Deep Canyon TC captained by Jim Woeppel took 2nd and Palm Springs Westin captained by Dave Paquette got 3rd place. The Lakes captained Phil Arctander rounded out 4th place.
Senior 70’s Men’s Premier 3.0 Division Playoffs: There were some surprises in the playoffs. #4 The Lakes upset Palm Valley 2-0 and #2 Deep Canyon TC defeated Palm Springs Westin 2-1. The Lakes maintained their momentum and defeated Deep Canyon 2-0 and won the Division Championship. Palm Valley took 3rd beating Palm Springs Westin.
Senior 70’s Women’s Premier 3.0 Season: 5 teams took part in this division. Mission Hills Golden Picklers captained by Sarah Webb took the League Championship. Silver Sands captained by Ilse Hine and Diana Kruger took 2nd Place and Palm Valley Silver Bullets captained by Carol Perrott placed 3rd. Palm Valley Double Trouble captained Judy Towle took the 4th spot.
Senior 70’s Women’s Premier 3.0 Division Playoffs: Mission Hills Golden Picklers defeated Palm Valley Double Trouble and Palm Valley Silver Bullets upset Silver Sands RC. The Golden Picklers were pushed by a feisty Silver Bullet team but prevailed 2-1 and won the Division Championship.
Senior 70’s Men’s Elite 3.5 Season and Division Playoffs: There were 4 teams for this division. Mission Hills Big Dink Energy captained by Charles Glickman were the class of this division. 4th place Desert Horizons captained Jon Rombough had the daunting task of takin on Mission Hills in the playoffs and lost 2-0. Monterey captained by Pascal Del Guercio and Kevin Merz were separated by one point from The Citrus captained by Charlie Quimby and John Hughes during league play.. Their playoff match up was very close with Monterey coming out on top 2-1. Mission Hills defeated Monterey 2-0 and took the Division Championship. Desert Horizons defeated The Citrus for 3rd Place.
Senior 70’s Women’s Elite 3.5 Season and Division Playoffs: There were 4 teams for this division. Palm Desert Resort #1 captained Hady Fleming took the #1 seed while Paradise Pickleball captained by Shelley Agostino and Jill Goldberg secured the #2 seed and play #3 seed Palm Springs Westin captained by Paula Sheridan and Kristin Moore. Outdoor Resort Indio captained by Denise Renner and Gloria Schell took the 4th seed. Playoff match ups pitted PDR #1 vs Outdoor Resort with the win going to PDR. Paradise Pickleball had a heck of match with Palm Springs Westin and won 2-1 sending them into the final match with PDR. Paradise Pickleball pulled off the upset beating PDR 2-0 and won the Division Championship. Palm Springs Westin took 3rd over Outdoor Resort 2-1.
Senior 70’s Men’s Select 4.0+ Season and Division Playoffs: There were 4 highly skilled teams in this division. The Lakes captained by Don Beer and Rick Angelo stood out against all challengers. Del Webb Rancho Mirage captained by Richard Sarnat took the 2nd seed and La Quinta Wellness Center captained by Bill Shamhart and Rickie Brown placed 3rd. Deep Canyon TC captained by Bob Thompson and Gary Feibus placed 4th. In the playoffs it was all The Lakes who dominated and won the Division Championship over LQ Wellness. Deep Canyon took 3rd place.
Local events
Pickleball benefit: There is an upcoming Pickleball event benefiting the American Heart Association. It will be at the J.W. Marriott Springs Resort in Palm Desert., on May 3, 2026. Contact Emma Haber at emma@ehprgroup.com for more details. Register here.
Round-robin summer event: Indoor Round Robin events this summer! At Palm Desert Civic Center Park in the air conditioning. Singles, skinny singles, rotating partners, fixed men’s, women’s and mixed doubles, and senior women’s doubles. Only $20 to enter! They will be on May 24, June 28, July 26, Aug. 30 and Sept. 27.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Results from the Desert Pickleball League divisional playoffs
Reporting by Mary Barsaleau, Special to The Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
