Dual Matches Redesign

After observing dual matches in 2024, we’ve made some edits to the dual match format to better accommodate team sizes and schedules! Regularly scheduled head to head games are the foundation of nearly every sports league, so it’s something we want to implement as well. All dual matches will be recorded on our collegiate website, including a standings section. 

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Dual Match Presentation, Rules, and Results

View the following links to see in more detail the dual match format presentation, rules, and results:

• Dual match format presentation
• Dual match rules
• Dual match results

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Bids

For the 2025 season, the top 2 teams with the most dual match wins will get a bid to nationals. Ties will be broken by overall dual match performance, including match/game/point/win %. Dual Matches played on or before March 30th, 2025 will count towards this.

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For counting dual match wins, a school can only gain 1 win per semester from beating a particular opposing school. All other stats will count to help your tiebreaker, but only 1 win can be gained. 

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Showcase Matches

We’re bringing the college action under the lights on championship court at PPA tour stops in 2025. Showcase Matches will feature college teams competing in dual matches against each other on PPA livestream. Certain stops will showcase top teams playing against and with PPA Pros and the top PPA Juniors talent. Matches played between schools will be counted as official dual matches.

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Below is the schedule of these matchups:

• Mesa Cup Feb. 22 ASU vs Grand Canyon
• Cape Coral Open March 8 Florida vs Florida State
• North Carolina Open April 5 By Invitation
• Red Rock Open April 9 By Invitation
• Atlanta Slam May 17 By Invitation

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Dual Match Weekends

To facilitate many dual matches at once, we recommend schools organize Dual Match Weekends to have 3-4 schools all play dual matches against each other. 

• All schools involved need to bring the same number of teams
• We estimate each match taking 75 minutes, so use that number to schedule out the Dual Match Weekend depending on how many teams each school brings.some text
  • 1 team - 75 minutes (1.25 hours) per dual match
  • 2 teams - 150 minutes (2.5 hours) per dual match
  • 3 teams - 225 minutes (3.75 hours) per dual match
• For both 3 and 4 schools in attendance, 3 “rounds” of dual matches will be played. If it is 3 schools, have the host take the bye in the middle so the visiting schools can leave or arrive early.some text
  • 3 schools - (R1) A vs B; (R2) B vs C; (R3) A vs C
  • 4 schools - (R1) A vs B, C vs D; (R2) A vs C, B vs D; (R3) A vs D, B vs C

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Exhibition Games

We are always looking for ways to get players not on the starting team involved in the action! We recommend creating an exhibition bracket or pools to get games for these players. This can take any form you think will work best. 

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One way to do this is to use “inverse groups”: groups where you play no one of your group but everyone from a different group. School A and School B could create groups of 4 that only contain players from their school, and then they would play everyone from the opposing group, ensuring maximum cross-school play. 

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We are also working on creating the No-Same-School Scheduling Tool (NoSSST for short). When functioning, NoSSST will create a round robin with players from different schools but omit rounds where players from the same school face each other. This will allow for higher flexibility in scheduling exhibition games while also maximizing cross-school play!

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To learn more about DUPR Collegiate Pickleball, visit our website.