Hello Spikeballas (I’ll explain the joke later). The Spikeball season has come to a close and it’s been a great season in terms of action, drama, and growth of the sport. We’ll break it all down below.

Quick story: Many moons ago I won a Spikeball tournament at my high school. The prize? A $50 Buffalo Wild Wings gift card for each member of the winning team—heaven for a 16 year old. After this triumphant victory I convinced my T.A. to announce me at my actual graduation as Jack “SpikeBalla” Lavorato. 

Long story short, I’m the greatest roundnet prospect to ever come out of West Island College, and I made my mother very angry on my graduation day.  

Below:

• ✂️ Cut serve breakdown

• 📊 2023 Spikeball Tour Series season

• 🥅 New kit?

Let’s get into it.

🔪 How to hit a cut serve in 5 minutes

What is a cut serve? When you apply spin to the ball so it spins away from your opponent.

There’s two types of spins: top spin and side spin.

How to create the spin 🌪️ 

1. Grab the ball with your bottom three fingers (pinky, ring, and middle), use index as support

2. Same toss as any serve you hit

3. Hit the ball over the top with in the middle of your fingers

How to practice:

1. Start tossing it at the net with the spin you want

2. Start hitting it lightly over and over until you get the spin you want

3. Upgrade the speed of the hit

4. Repetition—find that spot on your hand that makes it spin and get comfortable hitting it

How to Roundnet has a great breakdown for all the visual learners out there. 

🏆️ The Championship 2023—the pinnacle of the roundnet season

The finale of the 2023 season has come to end with Kingdom Come taking the crown beating Critical Hit in the finals after a tough start in the pool play.

Critical Hit came out of pool play 3-3, losing to Assistive Touch twice in incredibly close matches.

In bracket play, KC came out hot, dominating Insystem in straight sets (21-13, 21-11). In the quarterfinals, KC lost the first set to Rogue, the top team for much of the 2023 season. However, they were able to rally, and dominated the next two games to advance.

After a back and forth semifinal, KC took down Judgment Day and advanced to the finals. Then, KC stayed hot and beat Critical Hit in straights sets, winning The Championship and ascending to the pinnacle of the sport.

Perhaps the most surprising result is Rogue’s quarterfinal exit. Rogue was probably the best team throughout the season and looked dominant in pool play—a very disappointing ending to a wonderful season for Thomas Hamilton and Ryan Marino.

Hamilton and Marino still sit at #1 and #2 in the USA Roundnet Rankings, and there’s no doubt if they stay together they will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

In Women’s Pro,TWINZ dominated. With a perfect 9-0 record, they were not really tested until the final, when they met the Europeen force Toweful. This was the matchup we’ve been waiting for all season since Laura met the Jenki Twins in Salt Lake city a few months. TWINZ won the final in straight sets, but both sets were absolute WARS—22-20 and 36-34. In 13 total sets, TWINZ won 55.4% of points played—just a dominant performance from start to finish. Excited to see these two teams build up even more hype in 2024, and hopefully some new comers can ascend to their level.

In Mixed Pro, third-ranked Open player Gabe Finocchi teamed up with Sarah Allen, a member of angst. While it was the smallest division with only eight teams competing, Finocchi and Allen got the job done, defeating tough teams with top players like the Jenki sisters, Joe Bondi, and Will Picone. 

🦣 Spikeball introduces the MAMMOTH kit

Chris Ruder, the CEO of Spikeball, made this rollout a priority because of constant feedback from competitive roundnet players and spectators. So that’s good. He really cares about what we say.

The purpose of the taller, MAMMOTH Kit, is to improve defense and extend rallies. There has been a lot of criticism for short rallies, and this kit allows players more time to retrieve drop shots and create better angles to return spikes. Much like the introduction of the “no hit zone” it’s another improvement to have longer and more competitive rallies.

Although this kit won’t be in the competitive scene next year, Ruder has expressed interest in testing it on tournaments without point or season consequence.

What do you think? Good for the game or a cash grab?

👊 Quick Hits

⚽ The Canadian Women’s National Team getting warmed up for the final game of Christine Sinclair’s legendary career with a little roundnet.

🏕️ Mandatory camping checklist:

1. Tent

2. Bear Spray

3. Food

4. Roundnet kit?