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MLP Daytona Beach - Your Viewing Guide

MLP Daytona Beach - Your Viewing Guide

Team KOTC
June 05, 2025

MLP Daytona Beach

This weekend’s event, which was previously scheduled to be in Salt Lake City, kicks off Thursday with TWO matchups by Tyler & the Utah Black Diamonds.

Venue Change-ups: Because the St. Pete Athletic Club (co-owned by Travis Rettenmaier’s BFF/Florida Smash owner, Graham D’Amico) is not expected to be completed in time for its formerly scheduled July 31 - Aug 3 event, that location was moved to Salt Lake City. In turn, the SLC event (originally slated for this weekend) was moved to Daytona Beach at Pictona at Holly Hill. Still with us? That’s not all.

Over July 4th weekend, the planned DC event has moved to NYC, held at Randall’s Island Park. This is largely due to the DC and Brooklyn Pickleball Clubs swapping naming rights (and hence, locations). DC still had a “TBD” location listed, so this works out better all around.

PARTICIPATING TEAMS

Premier teams competing in Daytona Beach are Carolina Hogs, Chicago Slice, Los Angeles Mad Drops, New Jersey 5s, New York Hustlers, SoCal Hard Eights, St. Louis Shock, Texas Ranchers, Utah Black Diamonds. (Challenger teams are not participating in this event)

Carolina Hogs

Chicago Slice: with newly acquired Viv Glozman (from Atlanta Bouncers)

LA Mad Drops

New Jersey 5s

NY Hustlers

SoCal Hard Eights

Texas Ranchers

St. Louis Shock

Utah Black Diamonds

Storylines to Watch

No, it’s not “another meaningless event with no winners.” There is a winner of every matchup. Those wins contribute to team standings, which determine who goes into the playoffs to crown an eventual champion. Just like about every other sport. With that out of the way, there ARE some exciting head-to-heads we’re excited to watch, as well as some teams who we haven’t seen as much in the last few events, who have a lot to show us.

Will Ben & Collin try this time? There was a LOT of drama around the Carolina Hogs’ last showing in Columbus, with the Johns brothers slinking out the door early, upset at the lighting in the venue. That’s a non-issue this time (outdoor event), so will attempt to recover their image, or will they keep phoning it in?
It's been a while since we last saw the St. Louis Shock, the other team with a perfect record, who played back in Columbus. While their 8-0 streak is impressive, it doesn't quite match up to the Flash's 14-0 run. This is their big opportunity to close the gap in points and show everyone they deserve a spot at the top!
The Utah Black Diamonds finally snagged their first wins of the season in Phoenix last week, and they're definitely looking to ride that wave of success. The big question is whether they'll stick with Genie Erokhina as their starter or let their draft pick, Mehvish Safdar, get some time on the field. No matter who starts, they're kicking things off against the NY Hustlers and then taking on the New Jersey 5s.
The Chicago Slice also last played a month ago in Columbus, and currently stand with a 2-6 record. Not the best. But after swapping Viv David for Viv Glozman, maybe they’ll have a little spark. And we’re not talking about sparks that may fly between James and Vivian… didn’t hear that from us tho.
The four teams at the bottom of the rankings—Hogs, Hard Eights, Hustlers, and Slice—are up against some strong playoff favorites in this event, making the competition a bit uneven. If you're looking for an underdog to cheer for, consider the Hard Eights. With their spirited captain, Blaine Hovenier, leading the way, his enthusiasm is bound to get you pumped up!

Competition Structure

Rally scoring was replaced by traditional side-out scoring. Games will be played to 11 (win by 2).
DreamBreakers will be played to 21 with rally scoring, and players switching every 4 points. A freeze will happen on game point, as the DB must be won on a serve.

Regular-season events will be played for standings points, calculated the same as last year:

3 Points: Regulation win (i.e.: 3-1 or 4-0 win; no DreamBreaker needed)
2 Points: DreamBreaker win (i.e.: 3-2 win)
1 Point: DreamBreaker loss (i.e.: 2-3 loss)
0 Points: Regulation loss (i.e.: 1-3 or 0-4 loss; no DreamBreaker needed)

Standings points will determine seeding at the Mid-Season Tournament held once again at the Beer City Open, where teams can win additional standings points (6 points for winning, 4 for second place, 2 for third place). Top 10 teams will advance to the playoffs.