NCPA Format

The NCPA competition structure is divided into two primary formats: D1/D2/D3 Team Bracket and 3.0-5.0+ Individual Brackets featuring singles, doubles, and mixed. Below: bracket structure, team match rules, and Sudden Death.

Bracket Structure

Pool Play

4 teams per pool, all advance to bracket

Single Elimination

Number of games varies by bracket, side-out scoring to 11 (win by 2).

Game Management

Side Switching

Switch sides at 6 points (not a timeout; 30 sec max)

Timeouts

2 timeouts per team per match (1 minute max each)

Warmup (Very Strict)

2-minute warmup limit before each game

Score Input

Teams after each game must input scores & lineups immediately

Team Bracket

D1 / D2 / D3

Match Breakdown: Best of 7 Games

3 Total Categories

2 Mixed Doubles

1 Men's Doubles / 1 Women's Doubles

1 Men's Singles / 1 Women's Singles

Sudden Death (7th game tiebreaker) will be played if the final score is 3–3.

Key Rules

Coin Toss

The winner of the coin toss chooses the first category and serve or return for every game in the match. The loser gets the strategic advantage on the second and third categories.

  1. First category (winner’s choice) — Winner picks which category is played first. The loser chooses which gender plays first within that category, or reacts if the category is mixed doubles. To react, the other team must reveal their mixed pair first.
  2. Second category (loser’s choice) — The loser picks which of the two remaining categories is played next. The winner chooses gender order within that category, or reacts if it is mixed doubles.
  3. Third category (automatic) — Whatever category remains is played last. Because there is no choice of category, the loser’s advantage is choosing gender order, or reacting if the remaining category is mixed doubles.

Category Play

Play both games in a category before the opposing team chooses the next category.

Scoring

Side-out scoring to 11, win by 2 & Sudden Death. There is no sudden death in pool play.

Victory

First to 4 total game wins. Stop immediately after the fourth win.

Team Match Scenario: GCU vs. ASU

Coin Toss & First Category

GCU wins the coin toss and chooses gender doubles as the first category, plus serve/return for every game in the match. ASU (the loser) chooses gender—men’s doubles first, then women’s. Two games are complete.

Second Category

ASU chooses the next category: gender singles. GCU (the winner) chooses gender—women’s singles first, then men’s. Four games are complete with one category left.

Third Category

Mixed doubles is the only category remaining. ASU reacts: GCU must reveal their mixed pair first. The last two mixed games are played (6 total). If the score is 3–3, the match goes to Sudden Death.

Sudden Death

Sudden Death (when the match is 3–3 overall) is one final game. All six previous games are condensed into a single game to 11, win by 2, with sides switching at 6.

Example rotation: Men’s Doubles → Women’s Doubles → Men’s Singles → Women’s Singles → Mixed → Mixed

Rules

  1. Condensed Game
    • Each game format played earlier in the match is worth 3 combined points toward moving to the next format.
    • One game to 11, win by 2, switch sides at 6.
    • The order of games and the players who competed in each game stays the same.
    • After every 3 total points scored between both teams (combined), play moves to the next format—not 3 points by one team. Examples: 2–1 or 1–2 triggers a swap; at 4–2 the combined score is 6, so two format changes have already happened.
    • Same players from the original games remain in—no substitutions.
    • If the game is not over after all match types have been played, play resets to the beginning of the rotation.
  2. Serving When the Format Changes
    • Singles — Same as a normal singles game: even score, serve from the right; odd score, serve from the left.
    • Doubles — Exactly like a side out in a normal doubles game: you always start serving on the right. The only difference is you do not reset to the first server—you continue with whichever server was serving before the format change. Keep partner placement based on even/odd score, the same as when that format was played earlier in the match (depending on which partner started serving at the beginning of that game).
    • Singles to doubles — When switching from singles to doubles, the serving team always starts on second server (singles uses only one serve).