In Cincinnati Ohio, players from 30 different schools competed for $20,000 and championships in each of the five pickleball events: Mixed Doubles, Men's/Women's Singles, & Men's/Women's Doubles. With this being the 2nd annual Collegiate Individual National Championship, there was an increased player pool and spectators from last year. Read more to see how each of the five events played out!
Men's Doubles
Jack Munro and Timmy Manzano (University of Texas) went undefeated in Men's Doubles this weekend, but it wasn't without it's difficulties. In the finals matchup, they saved multiple championship points and had to beat Jack Foster and Django Chassang (University of Florida) 18-21, 27-25, 12-10. These two teams had the highest average DUPRs for the Men's Doubles field, with the University of Florida at 5.671 and UT-Austin at 5.391.
Watch the Men's Doubles Final here!
Mixed Doubles
After dropping games to Benson Parry/Averee Beck -Utah Tech University- (15-21) and Sara Sowinski/Colton Thielman - University of Wisconsin-Whitewater - (18-21) in group play, Mehvish Safdar and Michael Asplund - University of Indiana - barely made the playoffs as the #7 seed. However, that didn't stop them from then grinding out 3 playoff wins to be crowned the 2024 Mixed Doubles champions! In the Finals, IU was down 21-12, 20-12, against University of Virginia's David Bieger and Lauralei Singsank, and then came back to win the second game 26-28 and then the third game 8-11 in stunning fashion.
Watch their epic comeback here!
Women's Singles
As an encore, Mehvish Safdar went on to win Women's Singles immediately after wrapping up Mixed Doubles! Mehv was flawless in Women's Singles the whole tournament, not dropping a single game in group play or the playoffs. She was the only champion from the weekend to do so. Mixed Doubles and Women's Singles mark the first two National Championships for Indiana University pickleball, and their showing this weekend put them on the map as a top club in the nation.
Watch the Women's Final here!
Men's Singles
The highly-anticipated Jack Foster (University of Florida) vs. Jack Munro (University of Texas) singles showdown happened, but not in expected fashion! In group play, Jack Munro failed to clinch a group play game against Michael Asplund from Indiana, and lost 22-20. As a result, Munro entered the playoff bracket as the #7 seed, which put him on a quarterfinals collision course with #2 seed Jack Foster. Munro came out victorious, and then would go on to win all of his Men's Singles match ups in straight games, with 4 out of his 6 game wins in the playoffs being by 2 points. Coming into the finals matchup against Jack, David Bieger had decimated his opponents in group play, winning his games by an average of 13.2 points. Jack Munro's win also means that two #7 seeds in the playoffs were crowned champions - it's anyone's game!
Women's Doubles
Utah Tech repeats as champions in Women's Doubles! At the 2023 Individual Nationals, the Utah Tech Women's Doubles team (Dylan Ciampini and Katelyn Naduald) knocked out Lauralei Singsank and Alexandra McDonald (University of Virginia) in the semifinals. This year, the two teams met in the finals instead, but the result was the same with Utah Tech victorious, with their 2024 Women's Doubles team of Averee Beck and Kamryn Bliss. If there wasn't enough history already, the two schools also met in the 2023 Collegiate National Championship semifinals, with Utah Tech (With Averee and Dylan) winning against the same UVA women's team (Lauralei and Alexandra). However, UVA got the last laugh in that matchup as they beat Utah Tech 3-1, and then proceeded to win the whole tournament.
Hungry for more Collegiate Pickleball? Stay tuned for the upcoming Florida Super Regional on September 21st-22nd!