Charlotte Aviators 2026 Preview: Nothing Beats a Jet 2 Holiday - New Opponents, New Travel, Same Aviators

By: Christian Barnes

The Charlotte Aviators have been the bar for a middle-of-the-pack MLQ team for a long time, despite having perhaps the toughest schedule of the league since their inception. Joining the East Division gave them some of the most formidable opponents, fierce travel and a grin-and-bear-it attitude after the pandemic wrecked the college programs in the area. Since the pandemic, consistent leaders on the team in Hanna Reese, Allison Slominski, Kody LaBouve, Oliver “Lee” Hodge and Ryan Davis have worked with the players they’ve kept year over year and the newer players, such as Cole Tibbs, Lauren Hirsch, Micki Haralson, and Caleb Brooks that have picked up their broom for bigger minutes in recent seasons.

Last Season:

The 2025 season for the Aviators was full of ups and downs. They started out the season with three losses against Boston, revealing a Charlotte team that couldn’t travel with all their pieces on top of struggling with player injuries. They took advantage of the Fourth of July weekend and upset the Washington Admirals in DC in a 2-1 win. They finished out the regular season with an unfortunate shutout by the New York Titans, prompting much of the community to believe they wouldn’t make any waves in Buffalo.

MLQ Championships, however, gave an inspiring look into what the Aviators can do, and potentially an interesting preview for this season. In the blender of the lower bracket, Charlotte defeated the Cleveland Riff and the Houston Legends handily, but dropped against their East Division competitors, the Admirals. Not out of the fight, they won a final lower bracket game against the Detroit Innovators. They earned a spot in the quarterfinals, where they were unfortunately swept by the New York Titans. 

2025 Roster Moves

Returning:

Leo Bonilla (Beater) (Carolina Reapers)

Micki Haralson (Beater) (Carolina Reapers) 

Kody LaBouve (Beater) (Carolina Reapers)

Peck (Beater) (Carolina Reapers)

Stephanie Prck (Beater) (Carolina Reapers)

Hanna Reese (Beater) (Carolina Reapers)

Celine Richard (Beater) (Carolina Reapers)

Caleb Brooks (Chaser) (Carolina Reapers)

Bonnie Hernandez (Chaser) (Triangle United)

Lauren Hirsch (Chaser) (Carolina Reapers)

Melissa Ross (Chaser) (Carolina Reapers)

Allison Slominski (Chaser) (Carolina Reapers)

Nicholas Thompson (Chaser) (Carolina Reapers)

Zachary Thompson (Chaser) (Carolina Reapers)

Burl Womack (Chaser) (Carolina Reapers)

Oliver “Lee” Hodge III (Keeper) (Carolina Reapers)

Braxton Hale (Keeper) (Carolina Reapers)

Tony Bonadio (Utility) (Carolina Reapers)

Ryan Davis (Utility) (Reign QC)

Austin Cruz (Utility) (Reign QC)

Cole Tibbs (Utility) (Carolina Reapers)

Carynne White (Utility) (Triangle United)

New:

Jayson Snoddy (Beater) (Triangle United)

Joshua Buenavides (Chaser) (Triangle United)

Matthew Shaw (Keeper) (Triangle United)

Notable Losses:

Jordi Sancho (Beater)

Mohamed MY Monawar (Chaser)

The Season at a Glance

The largest change for Charlotte comes from the major gameplay shift to two conferences with 4 total divisions. The Aviators walk into the season facing a different range of opponents on their way to the Benepe Cup — and they’ve won these matchups the last time they occurred. Starting off facing the Detroit Innovators in an away series, the Aviators will look to sweep their first season in the Gateway Division. They’ll play Cleveland Riff at home later this summer before heading to the August divisionals. Charlotte has the potential to earn the most series wins they’ve ever had in a season.  If they can manage to start the season in a good place, their Benepe Cup story may finally be a journey that doesn’t require so many games just to get to the “real” bracket.

Much of Charlotte’s roster remains the same, with a healthier Celine Richard (beater) and (rumor has it) a more available Cole Tibbs (chaser/seeker). The losses of Mohamed “MY” Monawar (chaser) and Jordi Sancho (beater) will definitely be felt. But, the structure and consistency of the Reapers’ season will only increase in MLQ from the summer return of the seeking/chasing in Austin Cruz and Ryan Davis. While it may also be her first time taking flight for the Aviators, Lindsey Simpson won't look like a new piece on the field — her USQ season was packed with time where she meshed well on the field with long-time Aviator chasers like Melissa Ross and the Thompson brothers, Zach and Nick.

Season Potentials: Booking tickets and flying high

Much of the hype for the Aviators this season comes from a lot of the success and chemistry built by the Carolina Reapers. The USQ team had much of the same middle-of-the-pack success —they won against all the teams they are expected to, but have back and forth wins and losses against other quarterfinal teams, such as DCQC, Chaos QC and Trainwreck. The Aviators have been the same — at first glance, they seem like nothing to worry about, but taking into account that their main losses come from New York, the Boston Forge and Washington (who have held major success season over season), and you realize that they've got much more to offer when the spread of opponents looks different. With such a strong seeking core, they can almost bet on those 35 points, and they have always run a bring-it-to-you offensive chaser style with all players on each line able to drive and dunk when the beaters are away on flag. 

For this writer, the season will come down to how well the consistent returners work with the newest players on the roster. Matthew Shaw is almost unheard of in USQ, but anyone who has played against him knows he'll always fight and score from a loose ball situation. How will Jayson Snoddy fit into the Aviators' beating core full of pairs with multi-season chemistry? Can Samuel Chow and Joshua Buenavides learn how to score in an MLQ meta while correctly utilizing one of Charlotte’s fiercest tools — their strong female chasers? 

Some will look at the Aviators' season and simply think that beating Cleveland to go to Cup is the focus. But Charlotte has always been hungry to redefine their ceiling. With a drivable Benepe Cup and the Riff at home, they can focus on bringing as full of a roster to Detroit and divisionals, which are likely their hardest weekends before champs — and they're looking to go the furthest they've ever been. 

Overall Prediction: 4-2 for the season, and ultimate loss against the other division 1 seed in August