The University of Texas wins the 2025 DUPR Collegiate National Championship
An All-Texas showdown at the Life Time Peach Tree Corners resulted in the first National Championship for the University of Texas Pickleball Club.
The University of Texas at Austin (UT) beat the other finalist, Texas Christian University (TCU) in the finals. The final score was 3-1 in favor of UT: WD 21-15 TCU, MD 21-18 UT, MXD 1 21-18 UT, MXD 2 21-12 UT.
Jack Munro, the captain of the UT team, wins his first DUPR Collegiate National Championship (CNC), along with his teammates, Natalie Liu, Eli Trumeter, and newly signed UPA player, Zoeya Kahn.
DUPR All-American Team Announced
The 2025 DUPR All-America team was announced and the second ever East vs. West match took place Friday night.
How they got here
In order to earn a spot in the 1st team bracket of the CNC, teams needed to earn one of 64 slots available, by performing well at DUPR Regionals and Super Regionals during the spring of 2025.
The top 64 schools from all over the country descended upon Life Time Peach Tree Corners, in a northern suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, for the three-day event.
Pool Play
Each team was broken into one of 16 pools to determine seeding. There were four teams in each pool, and each team played each other once on Friday, April 11th.
In a highly unlikely outcome, in all 16 pools, there was a team that went 3-0, a team that went 2-1, another that went 1-2, and a team that went 0-3. Seeding for the single elimination bracket play was determined by the outcome of the pool play and point differential.
Single Elimination Bracket - Saturday
Despite being 3-0 in pool play, and only losing one game in the 12 they played, UT was seeded a 4 seed in the South Region.
The four #1 seeds going into the bracket were Florida Atlantic University (FAU), TCU, University of Florida (UF), and the University of Washington (UW).
On Saturday, April 12th, all bracket matches were played through the Round of 16. Both UF and UW were taken out of the competition Saturday night, in the Round of 16. UF lost to (4) Indiana University and UW lost to (4) University of Texas.
The University of Texas won both their Rd of 64 (Harvard) and Rd of 32 (Baylor) in three quick games. Their win over Washington was more highly contested, winning 21-19, 21-23, 22-20, and 21-14. This loss in men’s doubles was the first and only time Jack Munro lost a game throughout the entire tournament.
|
Championship Sunday
The Quarterfinals began early on Sunday, and Texas started off with a bang. They defeated defending National Champion, (2) Utah Tech, in four games. Next up in the semis, Texas defeated another 2 seed, in Grand Canyon University.
Lastly, Texas faced TCU, winning the whole thing. They won both the semis and the finals in four games. No Dreambreaker needed. The women lost in both matches, but then the men won, and both mixed doubles teams won.
Champion Scorelines:
WD 21-15 TCU
MD 21-18 UT
MXD 1 21-18 UT
MXD 2 21-12 UT
For me, the MVP of the Texas team was Eli Trumeter. His DUPR is 5.027 in doubles. In the single elimination bracket, Trumeter never lost in mixed doubles and only lost the one game in men’s doubles, throughout their six matches. He saw at least 80% of the balls throughout his time playing with Munro, holding up very well under the pressure. When he switched to mixed doubles with Khan, he was able to get big in the middle and pressure the other teams. Not many 5.0 guys could handle that switch as well as Trumeter did.
Major League Pickleball Competition
By making the finals, both Texas and TCU have now qualified for the Major League Pickleball (MLP) Mid-Season competition. Both teams will play in the Challenger Level bracket against some of the best pros in the world.
This is the first year the CNC top two teams are able to compete in this competition and one of the first times we will see college pickleball clubs playing against the pros.
Full Results
1st Team Bracket
1. University of Texas - $15,000
2. TCU - $5,000
3/4. FAU & GCU - $2,500
5-8. Samford, USC, Indiana, Utah Tech - $1,250
2nd Team Bracket
1. UVA 2 - $3,000
2. UF 2 - $1,000
3/4. Miami (FL) & Ohio State - $500
