The Association of Pickleball Players (APP) brought 32 of the nation’s best college pickleball teams to Cape Coral, Florida, and the University of Florida took home the team championship at the 2025 APP U.S. Collegiate Championships presented by PB5star.
UF students Jake Bower, Christian Franke, Zoe Routson and Martine Sundsten emerged victorious in a thrilling championship match that featured men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles, defeating the squad from the University of Texas.
“I was super happy to come out with the win,” said Bower. “It means everything. The Gators have been around the college pickleball scene [a while], and they’ve come very close to winning a national championship but never quite did it. So, to bring a national title back to Gainesville is pretty cool.”
PB5star, proud presenting partner of the 2025 APP U.S. Collegiate Championships, played a prominent role in making the tournament such a success. In addition to pledging financial support for team hotel accommodations throughout the event, PB5star gifted all team event players stainless steel tumblers from Stanley & PB5star’s new Apres Recovery slides for weekend-long comfort.
Team Competition
Four regional qualifier events throughout 2024 produced the top 32 college pickleball teams competing in Cape Coral, with $50,000 in prize money up for grabs. The schools ranged from coast-to-coast, including the likes of Stanford, Virginia, Indiana, Maine, and Wisconsin, plus several Sunshine State schools including the Univ. of Florida, Florida State, Florida Atlantic and Univ. of Central Florida. The teams went head-to-head in round robin play on Friday to determine seeding for Saturday’s elimination rounds.
APP Tour pro Jack Munro, Erin Johnsen, Natalie Liu and Eli Trumeter led Texas over one of Florida’s two other tournament teams in the semifinals to advance to the championship match. The Longhorn Pickleball Club recorded wins over Florida (White), Utah Tech (Red) and Utah Tech (White) before defeating Florida (Orange) to set up the gold matchup with Florida (Blue).
Florida (Blue)’s squad of Bower, Franke, Routson and Sundsten defeated Maine, Virginia (White), and Grand Canyon (White) before taking down in-state rival Florida Atlantic in the semifinals en route to their championship appearance.
The championship action began with mixed doubles as Texas’ Johnsen and Munro took on Florida’s Routson and Franke. The Longhorns cruised in the opening game, 15-8, to take a 2-0 line score lead.
Men’s singles followed suit, with UF’s Bower upsetting the multi-time APP Tour champion Munro, 11-9. Texas retained a 2-1 overall line score lead heading into women’s singles.
Next up, Florida’s Sundsten defeated Texas’ Johnsen in women’s singles, 11-4, to even up the line score at two points apiece, meaning the two remaining doubles matches would determine the champion.
In men’s doubles, the Texas duo of Munro and Trumeter squeezed past Florida’s Bower and Franke, 15-11, giving the Longhorns a 4-2 line score advantage heading into the final frame. However, with the total cumulative points score tied 43-43, the women’s doubles match would truly be winner-take-all.
The grand finale was all in favor of Florida, as the Gator women’s duo of Routson and Sundsten took down Texas’ Johnsen and Liu, 15-18. Although the total line score was a 4-4 tie, Florida retained a higher percentage of overall points—53.2% vs. Texas’ 46.8%—to clinch the national championship.
“It truly means a lot because I didn’t start playing collegiate [pickleball] until last year, and I didn’t know that there was this level of team spirit and a community at UF that was there to support us” Routson said. “I manifested every day that we would take home a collegiate win, and we finally did. It means more than the world.”
“I want to play professional pickleball,” Bower added. “I want this to be my career. All the hard work is starting to see dividends, and it means so much to me.”
Florida Atlantic University (FAU) took home the team competition’s bronze medal, defeating Florida (Orange). FAU’s Zack Card, Ava Cavataio, Zachary Marceau and Bella Nelson led the Owls to victories in mixed doubles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles to secure their third-place finish.
Individual Competition
Mixed Doubles
Alexandra McDonald (Virginia) and Jack Munro (Texas) defeated Bella Nelson (Florida Atlantic) and Aidan Schenk (Loyola Marymount), 18-16 to win the gold medals. Averee Beck (Utah Tech) and Benson Parry (Utah Tech) teamed up for mixed doubles bronze.
Women’s Doubles
In an all-Utah Tech women’s doubles final, Yolena Carlon and Mary Monson clinched the title over their schoolmates Averee Beck and Kamryn Bliss, 15-10. Tami Eliasova (Drury) and Elisabeth Matas Martin (Drury) earned women’s doubles bronze.
Men’s Doubles
Jack Munro (Texas) earned his second gold medal of the tournament, taking the men’s doubles title alongside Liam Duffin (Utah Tech). Munro and Duffin defeated the Grand Canyon University duo of Justin Brunner and Adam Jones, 15-9. Jared Brungard (Utah Tech) and Piercarlo Usai (TCU) earned men’s doubles bronze.
Women’s Singles
Mary Monson (Utah Tech) controlled the match and defeated Ava Cavataio (FAU), 11-4, in the women’s singles final for her second gold medal of the tournament. Zora Hudson (Stanford) secured the women’s singles bronze.
Men’s Singles
The championship slate concluded with an epic men’s singles final, as Will Lieberman (Drury) defeated Conor Burns (Virginia), 11-8. Jake Bower (Florida) added the men’s singles bronze medal to his tournament hardware.
Additional Details
Full team event results are available here, and individual tournament results are available here.
The APP Tour returns to action Apr. 2-6 for the APP Fort Lauderdale Open, hosted at the APP’s global headquarters, The Fort. More information about upcoming APP events—including APP Tour dates, player registration and ticket information—is available on theapp.global. Pickleball enthusiasts can also stay in the know by following the APP on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok, Threads and LinkedIn.
Team Competition Top 12 Results
- Gold Medal: Florida (Blue)
- Silver Medal: Texas
- Bronze Medal: Florida Atlantic
- Florida (Orange)
- Virginia (Blue)
- Indiana (Cream)
- Utah Tech (White)
- Grand Canyon (White)
- Utah Tech (Red)
- Iowa
- Virginia (White)
- Mississippi State
