NCPA Format

The Nation’s Premier Stage for Collegiate Pickleball

The NCPA competition structure is divided into two primary formats: D1/D2/D3 Team Format and 3.0-5.0+ Individual brackets featuring singles, doubles, and mixed. This is college pickleball.

Bracket Structure

Pool Play

4 players/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

1 timeout per team per game (1 minute max)

Warmup (Very Strict)

2-minute warmup limit before each game

Score Input

Teams after each game must input scores & lineups immediately

Division 1/2/3 Team Format

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

Winner chooses first category. Whoever loses the coin toss chooses serve/return for every game.

Category Play

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

Scoring

Side-out scoring to 11, win by 2

Victory

First to 4 total games wins

D1 Match Scenario: GCU vs. ASU

Gender Doubles

GCU wins coin toss and chooses doubles, ASU chooses gender (men's first), women play next, two games are then complete. ASU chooses next category.

Gender Singles

ASU chooses singles, GCU chooses gender (women's first), men play next, the next two games are then complete (4 total). There is one category left.

Mixed Doubles

The last category is chosen by default. GCU has the advantage. Because "choosing" the last category is not an advantage, they get to "react" which means ASU must put out their team first. The last two games are played (6 total). If the score is 3-3, you go to Sudden Death.

Sudden Death

Sudden Death (when the match is 3-3 overall) is one final game. All 6 previous games are condensed into 1 and each game is worth three points.

Setup

The order of play remains the same as the initial 6 games (for example):

Men’s Doubles → Women’s Doubles → Men’s Singles → Women’s Singles → Mixed → Mixed

Each category plays for 3 total points (not rallies):

  • First 3 points → Men’s Doubles
  • Next 3 points → Women’s Doubles
  • Next 3 points → Men’s Singles, and so on

Key Notes

  • Same players from the original games remain in—no substitutions
  • Players switch only after 3 points are scored (not after 3 rallies)
  • Each new set of players starts on the right side of the court (like a new game)
  • When switching from singles to doubles, the serving team starts on second serve (since singles uses only one serve)
  • If the game is not over after all match types have played, play resets to the beginning of the rotation

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