
3 things to watch for on Thursday at MLP St. Louis
The Major League Pickleball season continues Thursday at MLP St. Louis, where 11 teams will be in action across four days at Chaifetz Arena on the campus of Saint Louis University.
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: Brooklyn Pickleball Team, Las Vegas Night Owls, Los Angeles Mad Drops, Phoenix Flames, SoCal Hard Eights, Utah Black Diamonds
Here is the order of play:
Now, let’s get into what to watch for.
- The Brooklyn Pickleball Team will make its season debut on Thursday in the event’s opening contest against the Las Vegas Night Owls. Brooklyn made some of the most notable post-draft trades to add both Christian Alshon and Chris Haworth to a roster that looks a lot like the 2023 D.C. Pickleball Team roster with Alshon, Jackie Kawamoto, and Riley Newman. With Rachel Rohrabacher returning for her third season with this franchise, Brooklyn will look to establish itself as a title contender from its first Group Play match.
- In a similar vein, the SoCal Hard Eights will make their season debut against the Phoenix Flames in the day’s second contest. Meghan Dizon serves as the veteran presence for this squad that also features 16-year-old Cailyn Campbell, 17-year-old Will MacKinnon, and Armaan Bhatia. Campbell has some experience from her time with the Hard Eights during the 2025 season, but both Bhatia and MacKinnon will make their MLP debuts on Thursday.
- The Phoenix Flames also have their fair share of storylines to watch. On one hand, Alix Truong will play her first match for the team after being traded from the Columbus Sliders in exchange for Judit Castillo ahead of last week’s event in the Ohio capital. She will play women’s doubles with Daria Walczak and mixed doubles with her brother, Jonathan Truong. Speaking of Walczak, she will make her MLP debut after missing the Flames’ season-opening event in Dallas.
Live broadcast coverage from Chaifetz Arena begins at 10am CT on Pickleballtv.
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