The collegiate roundnet scene is growing significantly every year, but it is still not yet an officially recognized sport by the NCAA.

Today, we’ll take a look at the current standing of college roundnet, and breakdown the latest College Roundnet Nationals tournament.

Let’s begin.

🧑‍🎓 College Roundnet Breakdown

College roundnet in the US is broken down by geography, and every region has their own sectional tournament.

The top three teams at each sectional tournament receive an automatic bid to D1 Nationals, and the remaining spots are assigned the College Competition Committee. There are unlimited spots for the sectional tournaments.

But what makes college roundnet so interesting is the tournament format. Each college team at D1 Nationals is comprised of a 5-Team Squad. Teams 1-3 are made up of any variation of male/female players (Open A, B, C), Team 4 is Mixed with one male and female player, and Team 5 is Women’s. Each school’s teams 1 through 5 will face off in a single match against the other school’s corresponding team, as shown below:

• Open Team A vs Open Team A

• Open Team B vs Open Team B

• Open Team C vs Open Team C

• Mixed Team vs Mixed Team

• Women’s Team vs Women’s Team

This is a best of five format, so first school to win three of these games wins the match. Additionally, Team A, B, and C should be ordered by team strength (i.e., Team A should be each school’s best team, Team B second best, etc.).

Personally, we love this format. The set-up of these tournaments means there is no single individual who can carry a team to victory—every player is critical to the success of the team. A perfect representation of “you’re only as strong as your weakest link.” The best team wins, not the best player.

🏀 May Madness

Recapping the 2023 College Roundnet Nationals

We’ve all heard of March Madness, the annual NCAA D1 college basketball tournament. March Madness is, well, madness. Upsets, comebacks, elation, heartbreak–March Madness has it all, and it is many people’s favorite sporting event of the entire year. Well, Spikeball has their own version of this in May–the College Roundnet Nationals. Let’s break down the madness. 

While roundnet isn’t an official NCAA-recognized sport (yet), we still have some of the biggest names in US collegiate sports competing for the title of National Champions. But this year’s champion hails from Akron, Ohio, the birthplace of NBA legend (GOAT?) LeBron James. That’s right, the University of Akron defeated the Texas Longhorns and Ohio State Buckeyes enroute to winning the 2023 College Roundnet Nationals. Who doesn’t love a good underdog story?

But if you watched the Akron Zips play, you know they weren’t actually an underdog–they dominated the tournament from start to finish, going a perfect 8W - 0L. A truly remarkable performance. 

Here is the full Elite 8 from the tournament:

1. Akron Zips

2. Texas Longhorns

3. Ohio State Buckeyes

4. Northeastern Huskies

5. James Madison Dukes

6. Clemson Tigers

7. Georgia Bulldogs

8. Richmond Spiders