Patrick Ponce Goes Undefeated to Win PSL Michigan
Ponce won all seven sets he played, defeating Miles Reavis and Morgan Yeh twice to earn a spot at the PSL Championship in Las Vegas.
Patrick Ponce entered PSL Michigan as one of the favorites and left Port Huron without losing a single set.
Ponce went 3-0 in matches, 7-0 in sets, and 21-5 in individual solve races, defeating Miles Reavis once and reigning Canadian 3x3 champion Morgan Yeh twice on his way to the title.
The win earned Ponce a spot at the PSL Championship in Las Vegas, joining a field that already includes Dylan Miller, reigning North American champion Kyle Santucci, and European Championship silver medalist Valerio Locatelli.
And Ponce did it without producing the fastest individual times of the tournament.
Morgan recorded several sub-5 solves over the course of the competition, including a 4.678, the fastest solve between the two. Ponce never went sub-5. His fastest solve in the elimination bracket was a 5.241.
Across his 26 head-to-head solves, Ponce averaged 6.39 seconds, roughly seven-tenths faster than his qualifying average. Ten of those solves were sub-6, and 20 were sub-7.
Watch the Top 5 Moments from PSL Michigan:
Ponce Opens With a Sweep of Reavis
Ponce’s first matchup against Miles Reavis was about as straightforward as a PSL match can get.
He won all six solve races and took the match 2-0, sweeping both sets 3-0. His fastest solve was only 6.137, but Reavis never found an opening to take a race.
Ponce felt the sweep was closer than the 6-0 score suggested. Reavis was finding strong solutions, but at times appeared hesitant once the timer started, an area where Ponce’s experience in head-to-head competition may have helped.
“If Miles sends it, he beats me on a couple of those solves,” Ponce said.
The comment was as much praise for Reavis as anything else. The speed and solutions were there, but Ponce was more decisive.
Morgan Finds the Faster Solve, Ponce Wins the Match
Morgan Yeh entered the bracket as the top qualifier with a 6.659 average, while Ponce qualified second.
Their first meeting quickly turned into the closest test of Ponce’s run. Ponce took the opening set 3-1 with times of 6.516, 5.869, 5.241, and 6.578. Morgan actually produced the fastest solve of the set, a 4.721, but it was only enough to win one race.
The second set was tighter. Morgan won two of the first three solves, putting Ponce one loss away from dropping his first set of the tournament. Ponce answered with a 5.902 to edge Morgan’s 6.009, then closed the match with a 5.518 against Morgan’s 7.400.
Ponce took the set 3-2 and the match 2-0. Morgan had the faster individual solves, but Ponce was steadier when he needed to be.
Ponce Does It Again in the Final
The two met again with the PSL Michigan championship and a trip to Las Vegas on the line.
This time, Ponce was even more convincing. He swept the opening set 3-0, then took Set 2 by a 3-1 score to move within one set of the title.
Morgan opened the third with a 5.712, while Ponce stumbled to an 8.241, his slowest solve of the elimination bracket.
It was Ponce’s last loss of the tournament.
He won the next three races, including a 5.296, to close out the set and complete a 3-0 victory in the final.
Ponce had beaten Morgan twice and finished PSL Michigan without dropping a single set.
Consistency Wins in PSL
In a traditional WCA average of five, the fastest and slowest solves are dropped. In PSL, every solve is its own head-to-head race.
Ponce did not need a sub-5. He did not need to be the fastest competitor on every scramble. He just needed to keep putting competitive times on the board and make the person across from him beat them.
Over 26 elimination solves, that approach produced just five losses.
Against Reavis, it produced six straight wins. Against Morgan in their first meeting, it allowed Ponce to survive Morgan’s faster individual solves. And in the final, it produced nine wins in 11 races.
Ponce Heads to Las Vegas
The victory adds Ponce to a PSL Championship field that already includes Dylan Miller, Kyle Santucci and Valerio Locatelli, with additional qualifiers still to come.
Elsewhere at PSL Michigan, Joon Min won the Beginner division, while Christian Eiffert won Intermediate.
Ponce entered the championship bracket as the No. 2 qualifier. Twenty-six head-to-head solves later, he left Port Huron 3-0 in matches and 7-0 in sets.
Next stop: Las Vegas.