The reason you probably get put against stronger opponents is because of Skill-Based-Matchmaking. I dont know the exact factors, but one of the factors is your win-rate. If your win-rate is high, you get put against players that might have a better hangar than you, but have less skill. Basically you have the skill advantage and they get the power advantage to balance it.
I understand why they made it like that.
Here is a example: My SP is around 5000 my win-rate is 76,75%, and it's only increasing because i have become way better, mainly with the Discs and how to avoid other Discs. Almost all my opponents have a stronger hangar than me or have paid items, yet i still beat them, because i am just that much better than them. In even 1vs1 stronger players than me, reaching up to 10k SP and i make them struggle, even beating a few of them if they arent skilled enough. Now, imagine what would happen if i would only be put against players that have a equal hangar to me.
Do i think matchmaking needs improvement and has problems? Yes.
Am i against the skill-based-matchmaking? Not really.