College Roundnet Nationals in Charlotte cap season of change and grind

Charlotte’s College Roundnet Nationals felt like the finish line for a season built in gyms, on buses and through countless late-night reps. The championship weekend at Mecklenburg County Regional Sportsplex brought together 302 collegiate athletes across 18 Division I teams, 17 Division II teams and 10 Open Individual teams, turning every point into the product of months of work, not just one weekend of pressure.

The tournament was held May 23-24 in Charlotte, North Carolina, but the format reflected a much larger shift in the college game. USA Roundnet added the new Individual division to let clubs send more players, with each duo representing its own club in 2v2 play. Division II squads had to include at least one woman player, and the three largest sectionals earned two automatic Power Bids each for nationals. The college series has existed in organized form since 2017, and more than 150 college clubs took part in the most recent season, evidence of a footprint that has grown far beyond its early days.

That growth came through a complicated handoff. After Virginia Tech won the 2025 Division I title in Indianapolis, the event marked the final self-operated collegiate tournament run by Spikeball. Questions about scheduling, leadership, rulesets and rankings followed, and the response was an 80-person Zoom call that brought together players, coaches, organizers, USA Roundnet representatives and Spikeball leadership. Out of that conversation came the USAR College Roundnet Board, the group that helped steady the season and set the table for Charlotte. Spikeball had already said there would not be any Spikeball-run events in 2025 and that it was working with USA Roundnet to move Premier status into the USAR rankings system, making the transition unavoidable.

On the court, Northeastern arrived as the No. 1 overall seed, and its case was built on consistency rather than a single hot run. The Huskies had back-to-back Division I runner-up finishes in 2024 and 2025, plus a Final Four appearance in 2023, with coach Sunny Gu credited for the player development that kept the program among the sport’s elite. Northeastern’s track record showed how college roundnet rewards continuity, travel, practice culture and roster depth as much as raw talent.

Charlotte ultimately underscored what has changed most in the sport: nationals is no longer just a title weekend, but the payoff for a college structure that had to be rebuilt while the season was already moving.