MLP New York continues on Friday with eight matches across Championship Court and Grandstand Court at Sportime Randall’s Island.

Notably, the Carolina Hogs (2-12, 7pts), Brooklyn Pickleball Team (10-5, 33pts), and California Black Bears (4-6, 11pts) will all play their first matches of the weekend on July 4^th in the Big Apple.

Here is the order of play:

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

• The Brooklyn Pickleball Team should benefit from the return of Riley Newman, who was forced to miss last week’s MLP San Clemente with a lower body injury. He is now Brooklyn’s only healthy rostered male, with Dekel Bar (injury) and Pat Smith (illness) unable to compete for the second week in a row. Therefore, super sub AJ Koller will suit up for Brooklyn for the second straight event. He went 5-3 competing in San Clemente and boasts a perfect 4-0 record alongside Rachel Rohrabacher. Brooklyn will kick off its hometown campaign against the Miami Pickleball Club (6-10, 16pts) on Friday afternoon.

• The New York Hustlers (3-11, 8pts) and Columbus Sliders (11-5, 33pts) should benefit from the return of starters as well. As of this writing, Dominique Schaefer is slated to be available for New York, while Parris Todd should be able to return for Columbus. The two squads faced off on Thursday with Luana Stanciu filling in for New York and Marcela Hones getting the start for Columbus in a match that the Sliders won 4-0. They will face off again on Friday, with both teams expected to be at full strength.

• We were supposed to see the new-look Carolina Hogs (2-12, 7pts) in action on Thursday, but rain forced their event-opening clash against New York to be moved to Sunday. Instead, the Hogs will kick off their weekend with a battle against the Orlando Squeeze (11-5, 31pts) in what will be an early test for new acquisitions Etta Tuionetoa and Roscoe Bellamy.

• At the Challenger level, the Nashville Chefs (8-4, 23pts) are off to a strong start in New York after thrilling DreamBreaker victories over the DC Pickleball Team (5-6, 17pts) and Florida Smash (3-8, 10pts) on Thursday. Now having won five matches in a row, they will look to close the gap on league-leading Las Vegas Night Owls (9-2, 26pts) when they face the Bay Area Breakers (4-7, 12pts) on Friday.

Grandstand Court action begins at 11am ET, while Championship Court matches will start at noon ET on Pickleballtv.