The Utah Tech Pickleball Club attended the first National Collegiate Pickleball tournament and placed second overall after falling to University of North Carolina’s team in Dripping Springs, Texas.
Utah Tech Pickleball Club Attends First National Collegiate Pickleball Tournament
By Jake Harber
This was the first-ever collegiate tournament where all the college teams met in one spot to play for a championship under the same MLP (Major League Pickleball) rules and regulations.
The team consisted of players Matt Morgan, Dylan Ciampani, and Max and Kate Nadauld, with Hunter Aiono, Kylar Lemmon, and Brandon Chesley attending as support staff.
After performing extremely well in group play and “absolutely demolishing,” as club President Hunter Aiono said, the team went up against Texas Christian University in the semi-finals.
"Absolutely demolishing"
“We’ve had some online banter,” Aiono laughed. “It was a good game. It was close.”
After beating TCU, the team battled with University of North Carolina for the championship in 35-degree weather, ultimately falling short.
“This has opened up a lot of opportunities for us,” Aiono said. “We’ve worked with some companies and opened up pipelines to get our players a chance to play in Major League Pickleball.”
UT’s pickleball club is fairly new and was established in spring of 2021. It started off small, with a few people coming and playing Monday nights at Vernon Worthen Park. In the last few semesters the club has exploded with popularity, to the point that it has an unofficial split between the recreational side and the competitive side. The club will start holding tryouts next semester for the competitive aspect, as well as begin practicing at The Picklr, a new facility in St. George that provided the club with gear for the tournament and discounted prices for court reservations next semester.
Major League Pickleball is exploding in popularity as well, with $2.4 million in total prize money set aside for 2023, in comparison to the $1 million in prize money this year. Stars like Lebron James are involved, even becoming part owners of teams in Major League Pickleball.
“It boils down to providing as much value to students as possible, both recreationally and competitively,” Aiono said about the future of the club. “We’ve already solidified ourselves as a top team on the nation, we want to hold onto that and contend for that top spot every year.”
"We've already solidified ourselves as a top team in the nation"
To learn more about the Utah Tech Pickleball Club, visit their Instagram at @trailblazerpickleball.
For more information about Utah Tech University, please click here.