Austin Aces 2025 AVP League Debut

Taryn Brasher
Jun 9
5 min read

San Diego, CA

Our first 2025 Austin Aces AVP League stop arrived and we were given the beautiful city of San Diego. Last year we would have probably tried to squeeze in a couple clinics and run around like crazy, but this year we decided to be tourists in each of the league destinations. We had been researching the area and collecting recommendations from locals on the San Diego region.

Both of us made a list of things to see in San Diego and then we came up with our must dos. Mine included the Saturday AM farmer’s market in Little Italy and two coffee shops and Kristen just wanted to see it all. We independently curated a list of places marked on google maps (Kristen) and Apple Maps (Taryn) - which is typically an issue for us because neither of us want to use the other map. We cross examined and made up a San Diego plan of exploration. We know we were there for our two games and those are the highest priority but…. when we are already out there… we figured we might as well enjoy all that San Diego has to offer.

On Thursday, we started our journey after a morning practice at home and a long travel day to San Diego to pick up our rental car and go straight to bed. Friday morning, we started off strong with a yummy breakfast next to a delicious bakery. We were recommended to hit The Henry but when we woke up and the restaurant wasn’t opening its doors for another 2 hours we had to pivot. Then we went over to the Hotel Del Coronado to explore and on our way, we stopped at Parakeet, a wonderfully decorated and delicious coffee shop. We had the top level of the shop to ourselves and we were quite sore and stiff from the long plane ride so we took advantage of being the only two up there and had a nice stretch session before continuing on our walk. We then added a passenger, Mr. Cruz, after we saw the remarkable hotel. After wandering around the island, we were fortunate enough to head to Sun Diego in San Diego for our shopping spree in the Belmont Park area. Followed by a cabana lunch at Fit Social. We were pinching ourselves and thankful to have this fun day set up for us. We had great company with Trey and Molly and that’s why we love being in the US to compete and share these adventures with other people. After we were spoiled at Fit Social, we went back to the hotel to get ready for our walk-in, interviews, and photoshoot with the AVP.

Game time wasn’t until 8pm, and we were the third game of the night so we had some time to walk around and watch the matches before we were finally up! Game 1 of the 2025 AVP League for the Austin Aces…. We were about to get called out by Mark Schuermann and the Austin Aces boys were nowhere to be found. We waited as long as we could before running onto the court without them but it’s a learning curve and they joined on our way out to the sand. We will continue to work out some cheers and fun warmups but it was just the first time! We did walk away with a W, but the absolute worst kind. A medical forfeit for San Diego Smash and all of our thoughts and prayers are with Toni who was unfortunately injured in the first set. That incident made the rest of the night seem somber and chaotic as everyone was still just worried about Toni.

Saturday morning, which meant Farmer’s market time! We walked down to the lobby to head out and we stopped to chat with Toni who was smiling and in great spirits considering her event last night, which was instantly relieving for everyone! After many circles to find a parking spot, Kristen and Trey dropped me off to get a table in the Little Italy area near the farmer’s market and we had breakfast while we waited for the rain to subside. I take it back; we waited for the mist to subside. The Little Italy farmer’s market went on for 4 blocks and it had countless food, coffee, candles, and everything else you could imagine. I love to see people’s creations and their passion they had for the product, which is what usually sells me… and of course chocolate chip cookies & banana bread of which, you never have to sell us on. We weaved in and out of the vendor’s tents until we needed our caffeine fix and then hopped in the car to see the La Jolla area.

Our parking luck in La Jolla literally couldn’t have been better. We were front row to the ocean at the La Jolla cove with all of the barking sea lions and the cuddly seals. It was so entertaining for myself, but Kristen couldn’t deal with the smell. She had her sweatshirt up to block the scent. She considered putting her gum up her nose to mask the scent, but nothing was worked so we walked up the hill and through the streets and settled at the Blue Whale for our pre-match meal and coffee. We had to give up our incredible parking spot and head back to the hotel to pack up our stuff and get ready for match #2. *Side Note: It is so much easier to plan a day, pack, hang out with people when we have a set schedule like this – huge perk of the AVP League!

We were up against Kylie DeBerg and Hailey Hayward - and this time we were the first match so we got to warmup on the court like normal, the boys were there for the announcement of the Austin Aces, and we were off to a much better start! After Kristen decided to whip out some great serves to really take on the Austin Aces name and we had some fun playing we left with a 2-0 start to the league. Our other half, Wyatt and Avery, were about to play Andy and Miles so Kristen and I went into full cheerleader mode. We were screaming and yelling as they had taken the first set and pushed the game to 3 sets and fought so hard to get it done, even though they didn’t it was truly so entertaining and fun to have two more teammates to cheer on! After our men finished up, we turned into spectators, until the last game of the night, we hit the court again as dizzy bat entertainment. It was a blast to go out there with Cannon/Kraft and compete for fun & our stomachs hurt from all the laughter after. All in all, a great weekend in San Diego exploring and again, lots of prayers sent Toni’s way in her recovery!