MLP moves to Austin, Texas for the next event, beginning Thursday. The fourth event on the MLP schedule features 11 teams, separated into two groups. The teams will play a round robin within their group, with four teams from each group advancing to play on Sunday. The winner of each group will face off in a first place match, the second place finishers will play each other, on down to the fourth place finishers.

 

Among the 11 teams are the 2025 champion Columbus Sliders and 2026 favorite New Jersey 5s. Also battling will be the two Texas teams, the Dallas Flash and the Texas Ranchers. We will go through both groups and predict some winners.

 

 

Group A has five teams, with the Columbus Sliders as the headliners. Joining them are the California Black Bears, the Carolina Hogs, the Miami Pickleball Club, and the SoCal Hard Eights.

 

Columbus is going to sweep this group, and likely will not lose a single game along the way. Their lineup of Andrei Daescu, CJ Klinger, Parris Todd, and Danni-Elle Townsend is just much stronger than any other team in the group. The battle will be for second place.

 

Finishing second in group play will be huge, as it guarantees a team no worse than an overall fourth place finish. Whichever team finishes second in this group will earn more points in this event than any other event in 2026.

 

I like SoCal to finish second in this group. SoCal will roll with Armaan Bhatia, Will MacKinnon, Meghan Dizon, and Cailyn Campbell. They also sub in Rafa Lenhard. Bhatia and Lenhard played well in men’s doubles in St. Louis. Cailyn Campbell continues to improve as one of the best young players on the women’s side. MacKinnon is his usual frustrating self; he will hit three shots that make Ben Johns jealous, but then follow with five shots that would embarrass a 3.0 if they hit them. Dizon and Bhatia provide this team with a decent floor, which should be good enough for success in Austin.

 

 

Miami will be playing their first event after trading away up and comer Nico Acevedo. Acevedo is replaced by veteran Dylan Frazier, who has never played as well at MLP as he does at PPA events. Joining Frazier are Yuta Funemizu, Isabella Dunlap, and Estee Widdershoven. Clayton Powell will sub in for Funemizu in mixed doubles. Frazier is a good player, but he will be asked to play two matches on the left side, which is not his game. The team has some talent, but is likely to finish third or worse in this group.

 

The California Black Bears will not make the playoffs in 2026, but showed a little spunk in their one prior MLP event this year. Their starters are Anouar Braham, James Delgado (recently added), Kiora Kunimoto, and Sahra Dennehy. California has swapped out Michael Loyd, substituting in Delgado. Delgado is a very up and down player, so it remains to be seen how he will fit in. Kunimoto and Dennehy are good singles players, who need to improve at doubles. The team’s fate is pretty much tied to their level of improvement.

 

Finally, we have the Carolina Hogs. Carolina has DJ Young, Brandon French, Michael Loyd, Aiko Yoshitomi, Nicole Conrad, and Abigall Hatton. They picked up Loyd from California, and it remains to be seen how Carolina will now set their lineup. Young has front-line talent, but the rest of the lineup is not good. They are weak at DreamBreakers, although Loyd will help there some. Carolina will be an underdog in all four of their matches.

 

 

Group B has six teams, led by the New Jersey 5s. Also playing will be the Dallas Flash, the Texas Ranchers, the Atlanta Bouncers, the Bay Area Breakers, and the Florida Smash.

 

New Jersey is easily the class of this group, and they should go undefeated in group play. They trot out Anna Leigh Waters, Jorja Johnson, Will Howells, and Noe Khlif. Waters and Johnson have played as well as expected. Khlif has been solid, while Howells is just starting to shake off the effects of an early 2026 ankle injury. If/when Howells plays like himself, this team is as good as it gets.

 

The Dallas Flash will compete with Texas for second place in the group. Dallas has Tyra Black, Brooke Buckner, JW Johnson, and Augie Ge. Dallas obviously misses having Jorja Johnson on the team. Her absence drops them out of the championship conversation, but they are still a solid playoff team.

 

The Texas Ranchers will feature a new look this week, with Nico Acevedo joining the team. They also have Lea Jansen, Layne Sleeth, and Eric Oncins. Oncins is a top 10 PPA player, but has not yet played to that level in MLP events. Acevedo has sky-high talent, but will be asked to play right side in men’s doubles, not something he is used to, and a spot that does not fit with his game. Jansen and Sleeth are adequate; good enough to help beat weak teams, but will get beat easily by good teams. The new personnel will likely need some time to gel, so I expect this team to finish third in Austin.

 

 

The Atlanta Bouncers start Jessie Irvine, Kaitlyn Christian, Jay Devilliers, and Jaume Martinez Vich. Of this group, only Devilliers is playing with any enthusiasm, or up to their talent level. Christian has played poorly so far this MLP season. Irvine has played like she wishes she was somewhere else. Martinez Vich typically plays with flash and dash, but so far is just playing poorly. The Bouncers have some talent, but are the most disappointing team so far in 2026.

 

Bay Area has Genie Erokhina, Ella Yeh, Mya Bui, Luc Pham, Len Yang, and Pablo Tellez. Tellez is a solid player, who has missed some time this year due to illness. His return will help. The rest of the team is made up of average players, none of whom play very well on the left. Thus, most of the doubles pairings have someone out of position, which hurts their play. This team would benefit from some trades.

 

Florida is a team just bereft of high-end talent. Their starters are Zoey Weil, Martina Frantova, Cason Campbell, and Chris Crouch. They also have Paula Rives and Travis Rettenmaier. Weil is easily their best player, but even she is not a top 20 player. Their best chance for a win is against Bay Area.

 

 

It would be a major upset if Columbus and New Jersey do not both finish first in their groups. Indeed, both could easily win every match 4-0 in group play. Dallas should finish second in Group B and whichever team does finish second in Group B should easily win the third place match against Group A. SoCal is my pick to finish second in Group A, but they are not that strong a team, so an upset could happen there.

 

In Group B, Texas will put up a fight against Dallas. Atlanta could score an upset, if their players snap out of their funk. Bay Area and Florida lack the talent to rack up multiple wins, but they could perhaps get a win over a listless Atlanta team or a still getting organized Texas team.

 

I like New Jersey to take the crown over Columbus. New Jersey will almost always get two wins from Waters, meaning they either get three doubles wins to take the match, or at least get to a DreamBreaker with a very good singles lineup.

 

All the matches will be on Pickleballtv beginning Thursday.

 

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