DAY FIVE — Mark Doyle and Clodagh Munroe became the new collegiate champions on Sunday, each of them winning their first open collegiate singles title. 

Doyle defeated Ivan Burgos in a sensational final between two of the best young players in our sport. The match included several ace serves and flat rollouts from both players. Burgos speed seemed to neutralize some of Doyle’s patented paddle kills, but some untimely errors haunted Burgos throughout the match. Doyle really served and shot the ball well when it mattered towards the end, and he won two close games, 21-18 and 21-17 to win the finals.

Doyle threw his hands up in joy after rolling out a back-wall setup to close out the match, which was a delight to his coaches, teammates, and parents on hand to watch him play. 

In the Women’s Final, Munroe looked strong in her game one victory over Amy Brennan, jumping out to an early lead and controlling much of the action. The second game though was tight throughout, and both players traded rally ending shots. 

After falling short last year in the finals, Munroe looked determined to win this year. That was surely on her mind as the second game was close to finishing with both players just a few shots away from winning it. Munroe kept her composure, and stopped Brennan at 18 points and got back in the box and closed it out. You could see the joy on her face when she scored the championship point. 

You can view the winners from every division by viewing the draws on Bracket Ace HERE. 

The Collegiates is a team competition, and the Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks successfully defended their title as the collegiate national champions, winning the combined open division, the men’s open division, and the women’s open division!

They were lead of course by Doyle and Munroe in points, but also had so many players near the top of the bracket that they won comfortably. The top six players from each gender is counted towards each team’s points. You can view the breakdown of all the team and player points on Bracket Ace HERE. 

The team is coached by Mike Wells and John Stoffel, who are building an incredible program in Mankato with no signs of slowing down. Congrats to all the Mavericks. 

Combined Open Title:

1. Minnesota State Mankato
2. Missouri State University
3. Texas A&M University

Men’s Open Title:

1. Minnesota State Mankato
2. Missouri State University
3. University of Texas

Women’s Open Title:

1. Minnesota State Mankato
2. Texas A&M University
3. Missouri State University

The “A” titles are awarded to teams who don’t have enough potential points to compete in the “Open” division based on their original seeding. This group includes most of the teams and is an impressive and difficult title to win. The following programs finished in the top three in the “A” division. 

Combined A Title:

1. Angelo State University
2. Utah State University
3. Pacific University

Men’s A Title:

1. Texas A&M University 
2. Utah State University
3. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Women’s A Title:

1. Angelo State University
2. Utah State University
3. Pacific University

The tournament was a great success this year. A big thank you to Jeff Wall and Ben Van Arsdale for setting up the tournament website on Bracket Ace, which allowed players to easily view brackets, check in for matches, view live scores on each court, and much much, much more. If you are a tournament director, consider using bracket ace for your next tournament. 

Another big thank you to all the tournament volunteers. With over 220 players this year it was the biggest collegiate nationals in years, and took a team to pull off. 

The final thank you is to the coaches, who continue to promote the game of Handball to new players who will be the future of our sport. 

If you missed any of the results from the tournament, you can find them on Bracket Ace HERE. 

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DAY FOUR- Semifinal Saturday started off with a bang when Ivan Burgos defeated defending champion and number one seed Shane Dunne in two games, 21-11, 21-11. Burgos retrieved nearly all of Dunne’s kill attempts and brought an incredible intensity to the match. 

Burgos will be facing Mark Doyle in the Men’s final tomorrow. Doyle defeated his Minnesota State Mankato teammate Ray Ure by the scores of 21-11, 21-16 to earn his spot. Doyle has looked strong all weekend, and it’s sure to be a thrilling final against Burgos tomorrow. 

Clodagh Munroe dominated Emma Kinane in the first semifinal of the Women’s Open division, never allowing Kinane to look comfortable.

On the bottom half of the bracket, Amy Brennan smoked Leah Minogue in two games, a surprising result given the players just played a tiebreaker a few weeks ago in the Irish collegiate final. 

Munroe and Brennan will face off Sunday morning at 9am Central time. Follow along with results from all divisions HERE. 

The banquet was held Saturday night at the Graduate Hotel, which saw several players awarded for scholarships and awards. 

This year, more than $40,000 dollars were given out in scholarship dollars to collegiate student handball players! 

The Most improved Award goes to the men’s and women’s player who improved the most spots from the prior collegiate nationals to this year’s collegiate nationals. The winners this year:

Men’s Most Improved Award: Carson Kendrick, Utah State University, who improved 29 spots!

Women’s Most Improved Award: Kiaya Hoffner, Minnesota State Mankato, who improved 16 spots!

The Spirit of Handball Award goes to one men and women’s player who play the game with sportsmanship and capture the spirit of handball in the way they play and approach the game. The winners this year:

Men’s Spirit of Handball Award: Max Johnson, Colorado School of Mines

Women’s Spirit of Handball Award: Rachel Haas, Pacific University. 

All America

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DAY THREE- Bracket play started early Friday morning at 8am and didn’t conclude until after midnight! After playing their way into their final bracket, players were more evenly matched and that showed on the court. 

School spirit continued to be on display throughout the day, as players roared their teammates on and packed the courts to watch the close matches. 

The top four seeds in the men’s advanced to the semifinals. Shane Dunne survived a close tiebreaker to defeat Irish phenom Kyle Jordan. Ivan Burgos outlasted John Bike in a tiebreaker. Mark Doyle and Ray Ure both prevailed in their matches in two straight games. 

Those results set the table for the semifinals on Saturday:

Ray Ure vs Mark Doyle and Ivan Burgos vs Shane Dunne

On the Women’s side of the open bracket, we also saw two tiebreakers. Emma Kinane overcame Jodie Keeling after dropping game one. She cruised in the second game and tiebreaker. Leah Minogue had a similar result, losing her first game to Noelle Dowling then prevailing in the next two. The match finished around 12:30am Saturday morning. 

Clodagh Munroe and Amy Brennan won their quarterfinals without a problem, setting up the Women’s semifinal matches Saturday:

Clodagh Munroe vs Emma Kinane and Amy Brennan vs Leah Minogue.

Matches start at 9am Central time Saturday morning. Follow along HERE. 

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DAY TWO– After an exhilarating fourteen-hour day of handball on Thursday, the seeds have been determined, and the final brackets are officially live. Check them out HERE. 

As the women’s division commenced this morning, the top seeds upheld their dominance through a series of thrilling matches. School spirit has soared, with students passionately supporting their teammates. Many courts throughout the day were packed with players cheering each other on, and giving their teammates advice.

The night closed out with several exciting men’s open doubles matches. The higher seeds in doubles proved why they were at the top, with all three higher seeds winning the late matches. The winning teams will be playing in the quarterfinals on Saturday morning. Other men’s singles matches throughout the day also set the final brackets for Friday.

After today, both men and women will play in single-elimination matches, and winners will play their quarterfinals by the end of the night Friday. More exciting action continues tomorrow, and everyone is looking forward to another action packed day of the greatest game here in Minnesota.    

DAY ONE — The first day of the tournament was electric. Players, coaches and fans packed the courts at the University of Minnesota Recreation and Wellness Center for one of the biggest collegiate tournaments in recent history. 

 The tournament was again ran with Bracket Ace, which allowed players to view live scores of matches on all of the courts on a big-screen tv. Players names were also associated with their school’s logo. Bracket Ace and its innovative features have been a big hit at the tournament.

The top seeds in the Men’s Open division held true, and the top players looked dominant in their matches. The rest of the men will battle for seeding positioning tomorrow to determine their final bracket. 

The women’s division will kick off tomorrow morning. 

Follow along with all the draws on Bracket Ace HERE. 

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MINNEAPOLIS — The 2024 USHA Collegiate Nationals will kick off Wednesday, February 21 at the University of Minnesota!

Over 220 students will be attending the tournament this year as numbers continue to rise post-pandemic.

Minnesota State University will be looking to win their third consecutive team title, and will have a good chance to do so. Around 40 other Universities will be represented in the tournament, and will do their best to challenge them. 

On the Men’s side, defending champion Shane Dunne will try to win his third collegiate national singles title. This is Dunne’s final year, and he will face stiff competition from the likes of Mark Doyle, Ray Ure, Ivan Burgos and many more strong competitors. 

Clodagh Munroe headlines the Women’s Open division. The current Minnesota State student finished as the runner-up last year, but has been looking strong in recent tournaments. Several strong players will try to take her down, including current Irish Collegiate Champion Amy Brennan. 

Make sure to follow along the tournament website HERE for updated draws.