The Major League Pickleball season continues Thursday at MLP Austin presented by Waterdrop, where 11 teams will be in action across four days at Austin Pickle Ranch. 

The first three days feature Group Play before the top 4 teams from each group advance to the Standing Point matches on Super Sunday.

Here are the groups for this week’s event:  

Group A: California Black Bears, Carolina Hogs, Columbus Sliders, Miami Pickleball Club, SoCal Hard Eights 

Group B: Atlanta Bouncers, Bay Area Breakers, Dallas Flash, Florida Smash, New Jersey 5s, Texas Ranchers

Here is the order of play:

Now, let’s get into what to watch for.

• Some big-name players are expected to miss this week’s event with illnesses and/or injuries: Parris Todd for Columbus, Tyra Black for Dallas, and Kaitlyn Christian for Atlanta. Judit Castillo will replace Todd for the Sliders, Albie Huang will replace Black for the Flash, and Keilly Ulery will replace Christian for the Bouncers. Thursday will see both Huang and Ulery make their MLP doubles debuts for their respective teams.
  
  
• Pablo Tellez is set to return for the Bay Area Breakers after missing MLP St. Louis with an injury. He will play men’s doubles with Len Yang and mixed doubles with Genie Erokhina on Thursday as the Breakers open up their Texas campaign with a clash against the New Jersey 5s. This will be the day’s fourth contest on Championship Court.
  
  
• Both the California Black Bears and Carolina Hogs will have multiple players making their MLP debuts on Thursday. For California, Joseph Wild will make his MLP debut in the U.S against the Miami Pickleball Club after being picked up to replace Luca Mack, who is out for the season on Injured Reserve. The Hogs will have Nicole Conard and Aiko Yoshitomi play their first doubles matches in Major League Pickleball as they team up in women’s doubles against the Columbus Sliders.
  
  

Action from the Texas capital begins Thursday at 9am CT on Pickleballtv.