Race To Richmond, Part 3: Marquee Matchups
With just two days to go, excitement for the NATS Championship is building across the community! Players everywhere are starting to make their way to Richmond, and the pre tourney open pro play-in is tomorrow!. To keep the hype train rolling, we’ve picked a few “marquee matchups” to highlight in Open and Women’s pro.
Open Pro
Rogue (Marino/Hamilton) vs Seazonal (Snover/Summers)
Seeded 5 and 7 on series points respectively, this head to head has taken place twice in the past. Rogue got the better of Seazonal at Atlanta Slam this season, winning the semifinal series in 2. They also met at 2025 nationals, and the 2 game pool play resulted in a 1-1 split where Seazonal notably collected a 21-7 win. This came as a major surprise at the time as Summers and Snover were not deemed the same pedigree as Rogue when this result unfolded. Traditional scoring and a brand new serve out of the neutral stance for Summers gave them a noticeable edge in that first pool play game over the eventual tournament winners (yes, the serve was likely being executed illegally at this time). This year at the championship though, all shock value is off the table for Seazonal. Rogue, who are set to make their final appearance as a competitive team this Saturday, will be prepared for the modern skill set Seazonal bring if they do match up. This match would be a seesaw of who can push the other out of system with serve pressure, because touches will be hard to come by if any of these 4 players receive well and earn an in system hit. Four world class servers with no choice but to swing away? We could definitely see some peak stuff from 7ft. If we’re lucky enough to see this matchup in bracket, I expect it to go 3 games with whoever can ace more coming out on top.
Unstable (Clifford/Picone) vs. Bangerang (Leung/Fowler)
Inevitably, Unstable vs Bangerang will be a matchup that draws a ton of attention if we’re lucky enough to get it. In a sudden turn of events, Paradox (Clifford/Fowler) cut ties as a team, and pulled the plug on their season completely. The two juggernauts of the sport were a threat to any team they faced, and it was looking likely after early success that these two would be one to watch in the pro division at the end of the season. Instead, each of them found new partners and enter this Saturday as competitors. Since Paradox split, we’ve had one Kyle vs Paq matchup. They faced off last month in finals of the PRA Championship, and after one game the series ended. Expect a high-tension atmosphere if Bangerang and Unstable end up crossing paths, especially in bracket. Eddy and Kyle will be full of confidence, their one tournament together was a dominant 1st place at the New York City major. Paq and Will are yet to pair up this season, but each also boast high activity having just returned from Worlds. The progression of these two’s careers have interesting similarities; their fiery personalities were always exciting to watch. In 2026, that firepower still exists, but we now look at Unstable as an experienced team that controls the controllables. I give Bangerang the edge in this hypothetical head to head, but with off court dynamics playing a major role here, nerve management will determine the winner.
Finnochi/Model vs… anyone?
The team with the longest standing history in the field is ironically a team we know very little about. Has Gabe been playing? Is Model’s health going to be an issue? These are questions that haven’t been answered because of inactivity from both players. We last saw the duo at Toronto Major; they posted impressive bracket wins vs Rogue and Foolish (Gu/Pruett) before falling to Paradox in the semis. That result and their Atlanta T-5 was all the travelling they needed to secure a coveted spot in the pro division. The answers to our lingering questions directly determine what we can expect from F/M, and since they are unanswered, it’ll be very exciting to see if the old guys can leverage their experience to a formidable result. Let’s not forget, this event is one that has not been friendly to Gabe in the past. Championship first round exits in ‘22 and ‘23 hopefully won’t plague him as a spectator friendly + legacy team like F/M is impossible to cheer against.
Women’s Pro
Unlike open, which will be implementing a swiss format for the first time at an end of year championship, Women’s pro pool play will be calculated on series points. This gives us a full look at what’s coming matchup wise, so we’ve picked two pool play matches to pencil in, and a hypothetical quarterfinal you can’t miss if we’re lucky enough to get it.
Bello!(Norris/Althouse) Vs Nugget^2 (Ding/Freeman)
The east region duo of Alaina Althouse and Abby Norris are no doubt coming in hungry. In their season debut at the Columbus Sectional in August, they came second in a tight 3 game final to Barklow/Freeman. Alaina and Abby are well-known commodities in the east region, but both know their time has come to expand that dominance. Coming out of college roundnet, these two are no strangers to pressure. Tiff Ding and Leah Freeman also find themselves with an interesting opportunity to make noise. Tiff is a player whose level can fluctuate, but there is no doubt her level is among the highest in the game when she’s firing on all cylinders. Her proficiency in close net defense and setting make her the kind of partner people find really easy to play with. If you’ll remember, her and Tess Dolan got fourth at last year’s championship, with defense being one of the building blocks for that. Leah is much newer, but can already have equally high standards for herself. As mentioned, she earned her first pitcher against Abby and Alaina this year. Leah brings athleticism and an impressive sport background (D1 volleyball player!) to the table that can inherently provide confidence in pressure points. I could see this being a really fun, and also important pool play matchup. For Alaina and Abby, falling out of system is not an option. They can trust their setting and hits as much as anyone with a good receive, but expect Tiff and Leah to be able to convert anything coming from an off net position.
Club Cafe (Dolan/Gould) vs. Treacherous (Morgan/Wanderer)
If you’re one step ahead and already determined what pools will look like, then you probably have this one penciled in. Although mashing up is a more prevalent practice in the women’s game, it’s interesting to think about the fact that we haven’t seen Treacherous together on tour since the Atlanta Slam in March. The duo won the tournament comfortably, not dropping a bracket game en route. In semifinals, they played Tess, and in finals, they played Joanna. The duo that makes up Club Cafe has a little more recency, they won the Boston Sectional in June with a tough route. Before beating Pour Decisions (Phan/Lamontagne) in finals, they impressively took out Vallée/Lapointe-Roy in semis, a Canadian duo whose presence will be missed this weekend. While I think Tess and Joanna have the slight edge in this matchup, Malia’s serving can break this match open if she’s landing.
Bracket Possibility: Pour Decisions(Phan/Lamontagne) vs. Killa n Bones (Kula/Jones)
If all goes to chalk in Women’s Pro pool play, this will be one of the quarterfinal matchups we get. On one side, you have a team in Kathleen and Abby who are used to playing bracket quarterfinals as their warmup for the later rounds. On the other, Ally Kula and Charlotte Jones will be in pursuit of their first ever pro semifinal. Expectations can be the heaviest form of pressure, and all of the expectation will be on Pour Decisions. Ally and Charlotte though, especially with the freedom of being underdogs, can play loose and reach a threatening level. Gatekeeping the momentum will be the key for Kathleen and Abby, I’d say taking game 1 will put them in a comfortable enough position to eventually advance to the next round. However, a small quirk worth noting is the familiarity Charlotte has of Kathleen’s game. If the GWR counterparts meet on Saturday, Kathleen will have to get creative from 7ft to cause trouble. It’s a quintessentially tall task for Killa n Bones, but this matchup is exciting because the talent is there on both ends.
We hope you’re as excited as we are for this weekend’s action! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Open Pro play in preview! NATS is sponsored by spikeball.
