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The Road to Nationals 2025

Collegiate Tour Details

Winning Bids:

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  • There are 64 total bids offered (64 separate teams)...​

    • What is ​a bid? Universities win a spot at a Regional to compete at Nationals amongst the best collegiate athletes around the nation.

    • What is a team? Teams consist of two men and two women.

    • Each Univeristy can win up to 3 separate bids to Nationals... That's up to three separate teams of four competing under the same university. Up to 12 players total.

      • Universities that win a bid at regionals DO NOT have to be the exact same players that compete at Nationals... Players can be interchanged.

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  • ​​​​The top 12 teams from each regional who placed highest on average in men's doubles, women's doubles, men's singles, women's singles, and mixed doubles will win a bid to Nationals... *see format below*

  • 4 NCPA wildcards will be awarded to the teams with the best overall record compared to those that did NOT receive a bid.

  • D1 is the team bracket for the top players around the nation... All info above is strictly for D1.

  • D2 is a challenger bracket open for college athletes of all levels to compete. 

    • ​​This is an individual tournament and players do not compete in teams of four.

    • Brackets will be available at both Regionals and Nationals.​

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NCPA Player Ratings / NCPA University Rankings:

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  • ​Each player will be rated against thousands of collegiate athletes nationwide using the NCPA rating system.

    • Each game is counted towards a player's​ individual rating. Every point counts.

  • Universities will be ranked against hundreds of colleges across the nation.​

    • University rankings are based solely off of placement... This is the most accurate way to rank universities nationally.

  • NCPA Player Ratings and NCPA University Rankings are NOT affected by any tournaments outside of the NCPA. 

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Nationals Championship Payout

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  • D1 - $25,000 total payout.

  • D2 - $5,000 total payout. (same as regionals)

  • ($30,000 total)

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1st   - $7,000

2nd  - $3,500 

3rd   - $1,500

4th   - $1,000

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Regional Championship Payout

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  • $5,000 each regional.

  • ($25,000 total)

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1st   - $2,500

2nd  - $1,500 

3rd   - $750

4th   - $250

NCPA Regional Championship Format

 

~ Our tournament format is a hybrid of team format and individual format. Players play the most amount of games in the shortest amount of time against the largest number of universities. ~

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OVERVIEW:

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  • ​D1 and D2 Teams will compete in five total brackets each... 10 brackets total over a weekend.

    • ​Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles, ​Men Singles, Women's Singles, and Mixed Doubles.​​​​

  • D1 is a representation of the best players at your university. Teams of four compete, two men and two women.

    • Again, colleges can win up to 3 separate bids to Nationals... That's up to three separate teams of four competing under the same university. Up to 12 players total.

  • D2 is a challenger bracket and any college athlete can compete. Individual tournament.

    • Players do not compete in teams of four like D1. Bids are not awarded in D2.

  • Colleges can send players to both D1 and D2 and can compete in multiple regionals.

  • There is no limit to how many teams/players a university can send for both D1 and D2. 

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BRACKET DETAILS:

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  • All brackets are pool play into single-elimination.

    • 4 teams in each pool. All teams play each other and are seeded 1-4. 1st of one pool will play 4th of another pool, 2nd plays 3rd, and so on. Everyone makes it to the first round of single elimination.

    • All games are standard scoring, to 11 win by 1.​

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Bracket Visual: (image coming soon)

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D1 Pool Play - One game to 11: Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles.

D1 Pool Play - Games to 11 best 2/3: Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Mixed Doubles.

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D2 Pool Play - One game to 11: Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles, Mixed Doubles.

D2 Pool Play - Games to 11 best 2/3: Men's Singles, Women's Singles.

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​D1/D2 Single Elimination - all games to 11 best 2/3.​​​​​​​​​​

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  • For Sudden Death games (third game of three), teams switch sides at six points.

2025 NCPA National Championship Format

 

~ The Nationals format is different from our regionals format... It is essentially MLP Format + Singles. There is an emphasis on Univeristy vs. University match play. ~

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OVERVIEW:

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  • D1 is exclusive to the top 64 teams that qualified at regionals. 

  • D2 is a challenger bracket and any college athlete can compete. Individual tournament.

    • Exact same format as regionals... *See above*

  • ​What is a match? A match consists of the following games:

    • 1 Men's Doubles, 1 Women's Doubles, 2 Mixed Doubles, 2 Men's Singles, 2 Women's Singles.

    • 8 total games each match.

    • A Sudden Death game will be played (9th game) if the final score is 4-4. The team that conceded the least amount of points throughout the first 8 games gets to choose if the sudden death game is doubles, singles, or mixed. Huge advantage.

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BRACKET DETAILS:

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  • Teams are seeded prior to Nationals 1-64 based on their performances at Regionals.

  • 32 byes are rewarded to the top 32 teams... 16 Round One byes and 16 Round Two byes.

    • Schedule ​will be posted in the months leading up to Nationals.

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Seeding Visual: (image coming soon)

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  • ​Double Elimination + Two Consolation Brackets

    • Teams get two losses before being out of the main draw. Teams that have lost twice get two more losses in the consolation brackets (four losses total) before they are eliminated from the tournament completely. That's a minimum of four matches total or 32 games total.

    • You cannot win back into the winner's bracket once you enter a consolation bracket.

    • The loser's bracket has a chance to win back into the finals and has to beat the winners of the winners' bracket twice... standard double elimination format.

    • The winners of the consolation brackets will win sponsorship materials (brand new paddles, balls, etc.)​

    • Teams that are eliminated have the option to play against other eliminated teams throughout the course of the tournament... More details on this will be explained at the event.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Bracket Visual: (image coming soon)

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  • For Sudden Death games (9th game to break a tie), teams switch sides at six points.​

Eligibility Requirements 

  • Currently enrolled taking a minimum of six credit hours.​​​​​​​

  • Have not signed professionally for any pro tour.

    • Players that have played in pro tournament draws are still eligible to compete.​

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Additional Information: If you qualified for Nationals in one of the regional championships over the fall but graduate before Nationals takes place in the spring, you are still allowed to compete as you were eligible when you qualified.

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