July 5th, 2025, 8:55 p.m. PST
Got the coveted Vietnamese food with a fun crew!! Brandon and Glauka, Kevin Dong and Maggie (his fiance), Dominika, and my fam all came along. And if you ask Brandon, he’s been looking forward to this dinner since the last time he was in CA lol. A very fun way to end a difficult day on court—so very thankful for the family and friends that make these tournaments worth it.
I won’t be on site for championship Sunday but I’ll be tuning in. Rooting for my friends Max and Christine in the gold medal mixed match!! Anyways, thanks for tagging along this week with me! Super fun to share all my experiences this week in my home state and one of my favorite tournaments to play :)
July 5th, 2025, 3:26 p.m. PST
Hello. Unfortunately, Yana and I just lost in the quarterfinals to Christine Maddox and Nicole Eugenio. Not our cleanest match, especially on my end. The wind was tough and I just felt like I couldn't get a clean shot throughout the match and I was just having a tough time, so kudos to them for playing a very clean and an awesome match and happy that they're in the semifinals.
Now I will stick around and watch some other matches, get stretched out and then I'm going go to dinner with my family. We're going to go get Vietnamese food tonight so I'm super excited about that! I had a lot of fans today. My in-laws were back with some family friends, also some church friends - didn't get a picture of them but I'm really excited and happy that they got to watch pro pickleball for the first time in person. Shout out to my whole family and friends for supporting us and being here regardless of the outcome. Check back in after a good day of good food and hanging out with family! I don't know if I'll be back tomorrow but we'll see - maybe I'll come check out matches, maybe not so...check back in soon.
July 5th, 2025, 12:31 p.m. PST
Just came off our Round of 16 win, we played Dana Raugust and Courtney McIntosh. We won 11-1, 11-8, Yana and I were feeling good, we had to kind of get into the match a little bit since that was our first one. We started off a little slow, but obviously we started doing well at the end and they started playing better, so we hung in tough until we could pull out the win. We are waiting for our quarterfinals match now. It was super fun to have my family and friends on the sidelines. My nephew, Tomás, was not cheering us on very much, but he looked cute enough that I'll let it slide. Now just going to hang out with the fam until we're ready to go for the quarters!
July 5th, 2025, 10:39 a.m. PST
Good morning! Today is women's doubles day and I'm playing with my partner and friend, Yana Newell. We have good memories here last year so excited to try to run it back again and hopefully finish out in the gold medal match on Sunday.
Last night I ended up going home, my husband and I got stuff from the store to make homemade pizzas and then we met up with some church friends and went to a park in our town to watch the fireworks. That was super fun to celebrate Fourth of July with friends, fireworks, get some rest, and not have as early a morning today.
Today we will have a big fan base as my entire family minus my brother will be here: sister, brother-in-law, nephew, parents, husband, and then my in-laws will be here again and a handful of church friends will be here, so we got the whole squad out here in Southern California at Newport Beach and I'm super excited. It is a beautiful day, and just hoping that today goes as well as last year! Happy women's doubles day! See you guys later!
July 4th, 2025, 4:14 p.m. PST
Erik and I ended up losing the quarterfinal to Jack and Megan. It was not our best match but they played really well so not too bummed about the day. I'm happy we made it to the quarters and I'm ready for women's doubles tomorrow. I ended up playing some practice matches with, not my partner, but other girls so we could get some women's in since it's pretty different than mixed doubles. We did that, I got stretched out and now I'm heading home. I'm gonna grab dinner and hopefully watch some fireworks closer to home. Shout out to my friends, Max and Christine, who beat Will and Bobbi to make it to the finals on Sunday! Super excited for them! Hopefully I'll have some some cool pictures or things to talk about after tonight's festivities - I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July!
July 4th, 2025, 11:39 a.m. PST
Hi! I just came off our Round-of-16 match, and Erik and I won. I don't remember the first game score, maybe like 11-7 and then 12-10. I mentioned this before, but we played Leah Tauber, who I practice with a lot out in Oceanside. It was kind of entertaining during the match because in practice, we lob each other all the time. So when I successfully hit a lob against Leah and won the point, she turned around and started laughing at me, because she knew I had already won that battle today, so I had a few of those against her and managed to pull it out.
I love having my family come watch me, because one, they hear me talk about pickleball all the time, so for them to be able to watch me in person is fun. My mom, I love her, but she doesn't know a lot about pickleball, so her cheering, while all is intended for good purposes, she, most of the time, has no idea what she's talking about. So it's very entertaining. It makes me laugh and kind of stay loose, actually, when she's cheering me, because I find it funny whatever she decides to say on the sidelines to pump me up. But yeah, having them here makes wins a lot better and more fun. I'm sure if I lose today, hopefully not, it'll make losses kind of suck a little bit more, because I want to win in front of them. But in the end, happy to have family here cheer for me and root me on.
July 4th, 2025, 10:16 a.m. PST
Just came off the court after my first round win, Eric and I beat Trang and Bruno, 11- 9, 10-12, 12-10, and we had like three match points in the second game, didn't convert, saved what must have been at least one or two match points in the third - I've honestly lost track at this point - but just super happy to come away with the win. I had a whole fan club behind me, so a lot of cheering, a lot of family and friends that were helping us get to the finish line, and just happy we pulled out the win.
We are playing Leah Tauber and Ronan Camron next, and this will be fun. I train with Leah, so feel like I know her game really well, she knows my game really well, so we'll just go out and have some fun, and hope to win another one.
July 4th, 2025, 7:52 a.m. PST
Good morning! This morning is mixed day with Erik Lange. We are going to get some warm up in in a little bit. But last night, after I left the venue, my sister, brother-in-law and my nephew, Tomás, were actually in town where I live so my husband, Jonathan, and I got dinner, and then we met up with my sister and that crew at a friend's house. We hung out with them for about an hour, and that was really sweet to get to see them!
This morning my husband drove me and I got Starbucks, and he sat in the car for about an hour - I think he's still in the car. My parents are coming today to watch, and my in-laws are coming today to watch. I think I mentioned this yesterday, but Brandon Lane and Glauka really want to go get Vietnamese food. I think we're actually doing that tomorrow, but we probably will go get either dinner tonight or my husband and I are going to drive back as soon as we're done here to try to catch the fireworks with some friends from church. So, Happy Fourth of July, and ready for mixed day to start!
July 3rd, 2025 3:24 p.m. PST
Just played some practice matches with Erik Lange, my partner, against Nicole Eugenio and Kyle Koszuta and we were playing well ust trying to get a good sweat in, and get some doubles reps after a singles day. The highlight of the afternoon is Brandon Lane and Glauka went to a coffee shop and they brought me back an iced matcha, and if you know me, I am a sucker for iced matcha so looking forward to that, I'm going to get stretched out and we'll head home.
July 3rd, 2025, 11:30 a.m. PST
Just came off the court. I lost 14-16, in the third. I did have a match point, but Bobby just hit a winner, so not too bummed about my loss. Kind of a win, win when you make it to the quarterfinals, because either you win and you're in the semis or you lose and you don't have to keep playing backdraw matches. So yeah, taking away a lot of good things from singles.
I still haven't eaten lunch, so I will be doing that. I do see the food tins are here, so we're good.
I pretty much put a hole in my shoe. As I was warming up this morning, I could feel the ground when I was hitting and I looked down and realized I should have started new shoes earlier this week and not tomorrow, but you know, at least I made it through the day. I'll have a fresh pair of shoes tomorrow, and I'm going to stick around and watch some more friends, and probably get in some mixed practice with Erik Lange this afternoon and enjoy the nice Southern California weather. Maybe I'll go to the beach, I don't know, maybe go home. I have no dinner plans and I did not make anything for my husband at home. So good luck to him. A good day overall and excited to get back at it tomorrow in mixed!
July 3rd, 2025, 10:24 a.m. PST
I just came off my next match, and I ended up winning 16-14 in the third against Domi, so I'm into the quarterfinals. I played really well. Felt like at the end, I was just executing shots well. Now I am very ready to take a break and get some food. I don't think they're serving lunch yet in the tent, so I just have to survive off of more bananas, some granola bars, whatever I can scrounge up in the tent. Then I'll probably just walk around and watch some of the guys, they're about to start. My friend Max is about to go, so I'll probably stick around and watch that one. I'm not sure if Yana is still playing, so if she is, I'll try to go find her and yeah, I'll just rest until I have my quarterfinals match and eventually get some some actual lunch in there.
July 3rd, 2025, 9:20 a.m. PST
I just finished my first singles match. It was so long I don't even remember the score of the first game, and then I think I lost the second, 18-20 and then the third I won 17-15. Quite honestly, with how I played, I probably should have lost that match, because she was playing a lot more consistently than I was, but I just grinded it out and happy I got the win. I had a match point, blew that one, thought I might blow the whole match, but I ended up pulling it out. So I have Domi in the next round, and I'm just ready to go out there, play hard and have fun, not care too much about the results and just get some more good warm up.
July 3rd, 2025, 7:35 a.m. PST
Welcome to the 2025 Zimmer Biomet APP Newport Beach Open! I'm super excited because this is my home tournament. Last year, this is where I won my first gold medal, so trying to obviously do the same this week. Today's singles day, I woke up before the crack of dawn, and I could have slept in a little bit more, but I really didn't want to hit traffic, so I braved the darkness, got some Starbucks, and I'm here. James is going to stretch me out to get me physically and mentally prepared for singles day, which is not my favorite, but it's a good warm up day, so just going into the day with that mindset, and trying to have some fun. My uncle is coming today so I'll have one family member here, and the rest of the days will be a lot of family members so I'm just excited for the weekend.
