Brooklyn and Columbus Win Big in So Cal - MLP San Clemente Recap

Going into the MLP San Clemente event, the Brooklyn Pickleball Team was decimated with injury and illness. Riley Newman? Out with a hip injury. Dekel Bar? Out with an illness. Pat Smith? Out with an illness.

2025 MLP “super sub” AJ Koller, and recently waived Rafa Hewett stepped up for the team as on-site alternates. Brooklyn ended up earning 10 points from their four matches, the same as the Columbus Sliders.

Let’s get into the action.

Four days after hosting the PPA Select Medical Orange County Cup, the LifeTime Rancho San Clemente hosted MLP San Clemente.

The weather was beautiful throughout, and the venue proved why it is one of the nicest in the world. 

Team Standings at the Event

Despite playing one less match than the others, Brooklyn and Columbus both earned 10 points, helping them solidify their playoff standings headed into the second half of the MLP season.

Team Standings After MLP San Clemente

You will notice the “Change” in the second column - this is the position change from the start of MLP San Clemente to the end of the event. You will notice Columbus moved up three spots in the standings, according to Points Per Match.

NOTE: I have updated the Team Standings portion of my “Public 2025 MLP Data” Google sheet, so fans can see where the teams are. However, I have not updated the player stats at all this past weekend. I am working on getting that done by the end of the day, Monday, June 30th.

Top Storylines

The Brooklyn Pickleball Team wins 3 out of 4 with two subs

Headed into this event, I thought Brooklyn was going to struggle. With all three drafted men out, they relied on AJ Koller and Rafa Hewett to hold down the fort while Riley Newman, Dekel Bar, and Pat Smith were out with injuries or illness.

The subs performed admirably. Headed into the event, the LA Mad Drops were probably the hottest team, going undefeated in MLP Daytona Beach. In their first match, Brooklyn dominated one of the host teams, in the LA Mad Drops, winning 3-1.

They went on to beat the Flames and the Hard 8s before losing to the Black Diamonds in a Dreambreaker. 

If I was Brooklyn, I would have been happy winning 4 or 5 points from the weekend, due to the injuries. I think the front office and coaching staff are thrilled to leave an event played the entire time with two subs actually climbing in the points per match category. 

Brooklyn went from 2.09 ppm to 2.2 ppm, solidifying their fourth place standing. They are next in action at MLP NYC, as a host team, we will see if they get any starters back for their four games hosting.

The Columbus Sliders go 3-1 and jump 3 spots in the standings

We haven’t seen a fully healthy Sliders team in over two months. The Sliders had played 11 matches headed into MLP San Clemente, but five of them were in MLP Columbus, where CJ Klinger was ill and Roscoe Bellamy (now on the Carolina Hogs) had to sub.

The Sliders were in eighth place headed into MLP San Clemente and you could see they had been itching to play with the results they got.

Earning 10 points in their four matches moved the Sliders up into the fifth spot, a much more comfortable playoff position. 

CJ Klinger and Andrei Daescu played much better than their 3-3 showing in MLP Orlando a couple of months ago and Parris Todd and Lea Jansen made sure everyone knows they are a formidable duo in women’s.

In what I consider the match of the week, the Sliders just barely lost to the Mad Drops on Sunday in a Dreambreaker. These two teams are very close together in the standings, and that head-to-head matchup could have seeding implications during the playoffs.

The Mad Drops fall below 2 points per match

Speaking of the Mad Drops, they did not have the weekend they had hoped for, being one of the host teams at MLP San Clemente.

Coming off the undefeated MLP Daytona Beach, the Mad Drops were hoping to push to something near 2.2 points per match, with 13 or 14 from the 15 possible points. Instead, they had to settle for nine points.

They had to settle for a Dreambreaker win against the SoCal Hard 8s, lost in regulation to Brooklyn, beat Utah, and then won in two more Dreambreakers.

While probably slightly disappointed in the overall result, the Mad Drops are still in a good position to earn a top six spot and earn a first round bye in the playoffs if they finish strong.

The Phoenix Flames have some personal personnel issues

The Phoenix Flames have been one of the worst teams in the 2025 MLP season. In fact, they are still THE ONLY team to not have a regulation win on the season, despite playing 19 games.

Up until the MLP San Clemente event, the vibes had been great for the Flames, despite the losses. However, things boiled over for the Flames on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, as the Flames were warming up for their match against the Brooklyn Pickleball Team, a disagreement occurred between starters Jessie Irvine and Genie Bouchard. Bouchard and Irvine were a combined 4-10 headed into the match.

I was actually on-site this weekend so I was able to get the scoop. Essentially, Irvine wasn’t happy with how Bouchard was warming up and the level of intensity she was displaying. I would say this has been an ongoing theme, not just a one-off incident. Some words were said and Irvine left the court and then left the facility after a verbal argument. She was not seen again on Saturday at the venue.

The Flames played both matches on Saturday with Genie Bouchard and Alex Walker, winning a Dreambreaker over the SoCal Hard 8s.

On Sunday, Bouchard and Walker played against the Sliders, while Walker and Irvine played against the Mad Drops. Irvine and Walker beat the LA women, 11-3, in what was one of the biggest upsets of the weekend.

Where do we go from here? I think it is very obvious that Phoenix needs to make some personnel decisions. I would not be surprised to see Jessie Irvine traded. If I was a betting man, I would say the odds are heavily favored for Irvine to be traded to the Carolina Hogs, to team up once again with her good friend, Ben Johns. If that happens, everyone will be afraid to play the Hogs.

The SoCal Hard 8s were the talk of the town

The SoCal team is the closest to being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, with their 0.64 points per match record and having already played 19 matches.

None of that is stopping them from actually having some of the best vibes in MLP. The big reason for that? Blaine Hovenier.

Hovenier is one of the best hype men in MLP and he takes his role of team leader very seriously, despite just being 25 years old.

They got a huge win over the Utah Black Diamonds in their last match of the weekend, with 15-year-old Cailyn Campbell and 17-year-old Jalina Ingram earning their first women’s doubles win together. Campbell was recently acquired via trade with the St. Louis Shock.

The other note here is Ryan Fu. To be completely honest, when SoCal played in their first two events, I was very unimpressed. The unforced error count was high, decision-making was questionable, and even some of his body language was poor.

Ryan Fu was a different player in MLP San Clemente and he was electric. He displayed some of the best hands all weekend, earned his best record of the season in one event, and really took a huge step forward. I was highly impressed with Fu and hope to see more of the same in the Mid-Season Tournament and the last event of the year for SoCal.

This was the second Challenger Level event and Vegas is still the one to beat

Despite taking their first loss of the season, the Last Vegas Night Owls are still the class of the Challenger Level. 

Standings from the Challenger Level in MLP San Clemente

Full Challenger Level standings after two events

The Night Owls are the only team above 2 points per match and they are 0.7 ppm above the Chefs, in second.

For Vegas, Delgado continues to impress, and he is easily my newcomer of the year thus far in 2025.

Nashville continues to fare well and went out on a high, getting two regulation wins in their two matches on Sunday.

D.C. was able to pull off the only upset of the Las Vegas Night Owls this weekend, beating them in a Dreambreaker, with Stefan Auvergne playing some of the most inspired pickleball I have seen him play recently.

The Black Bears recently traded for Michael Loyd from Premier, but he did not have a great weekend. He and Juan Benitez are such similar players, it is hard to figure out who should play the left or the right and which roles they should have. California needs to figure out their men, because their women are playing unbelievable, and Layne Sleeth is my Challenger Level MVP right now, after two events.

Florida showed marked improvement with the addition of Paula Rives. She played tight in the first game, which is to be expected in the first ever MLP event of her career in the USA (she has played MLP Australia). After that, she settled in and showed great power from both wings, and proved she can make balls.

Bay Area had the worst weekend out of everyone, but they also had three games decided by two points that could have swung the tide for them. They were right there in two matches, but they ended up losing. If they can figure out how to win close ones, they are a dangerous team.

Major League Pickleball is back in action this Thursday, at Sportime Randall's Island in New York City. Challenger Level teams are playing in the event, along with several Premier Level teams. Be on the lookout for my full preview of that event in Wednesday's Newsletter.